"It was a bit of a blow" - Shoulder hit and sand take Thibau Nys out of action in Antwerpen

Thibau Nys has had a lot of strong performances this year and has won the European Championships. A cup victory could be a goal but the World Cup certainly did not start off as he hoped, as the World Cup Antwerpen was far from the ideal course for him.

“Once again I have to face the fact that sand crosses are really not for me yet. I still have to improve a lot. For the rest, I came up against my physical limit – partly because of that," Nys said in an interview with Wielerflits. "I was able to limit it well for half a cross, but after that I was empty. I lose a lot of strength in the sand and I can't make up for it.”

In the first half of the cross the Baloise - Trek Lions rider was amongst the first, but soon it became that he was struggling in the many sand sections, and was dropped alongside teammate Lars van der Haar from the group that was fighting for the podium once Eli Iserbyt took off.

He will take some time to train now before the Christmas period. “I really have to get the hang of that. It's not perfect yet. A week of good training will do me good. Reason to panic? No. Last week I rode with the best riders twice, the entire cross. Today it was a bit less, conditionally but especially technically. On to next week”.

During the race he also hit a wooden poll by the boxes, another mishap in the matter of only a couple weeks. It didn't harm him too much he admits, but it was a notable moment that will surely leave quite the bruise. “But that was nothing special. I’m taking the pole hard. It was a bit of a blow, but it’s not that bad," he concluded.