Cyclocross World Cup: Thibau Nys Shows Van Der Poel-Level Dominance in Opening Round

Mathieu van der Poel may be absent from the cyclocross scene at the moment, but Thibau Nys put in the same sort of next-level performance Sunday.

The Belgian champion dominated round one of the World Cup, blazing clear of his rivals on a fast, frozen and technically-demanding course in Tábor, and riding at a level above throughout.

Nys was running over half a minute ahead of his rivals but backed off on the eighth and final lap to fully savor his success.

He rolled in eight seconds ahead of Laurens Sweeck (Crelan-Corendon), who clipped away in the closing laps to secure second place. Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing Team) was two seconds back in third, with Jente Michels (Alpecin-Deceuninck) just off the podium in fourth.

Nys is the son of cyclocross legend Sven Nys, and also a road professional with the Lidl-Trek team. Like Van der Poel, that combined cross-road background put him at a higher physical level than his rivals, something that was abundantly clear in the Czech Republic event.

“I had the feeling already yesterday during the recon that I could sprint from corner to corner,” he said, soon after taking what is the third World Cup win of his career.

“Then when I watched the races this morning I saw that it was really difficult to get an advantage. But I immediately felt the good legs and I went for it.”

Alone out front

Nys hit the front on the first lap and by lap two he and Nieuwenhuis were slightly ahead of the rest. The latter then hit the deck, prompting Nys to fully commit earlier than he had intended.

“When Joris crashed on the second lap I got a small advantage. I always had the feeling like I just try to keep pushing and when they come back, they come back. Halfway through the race I felt like ‘what am I doing,’ actually, because I didn’t make it easy on myself, but I was in control and I had the right legs.”

He certainly did. His advantage over the chasers soared, going from nine seconds at the end of that lap to 15 seconds one lap later. He continued to pad his advantage and was a cool 43 seconds clear of Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon), Nieuwenhuis, Sweeck and Michels with two laps to go.

The icy course had already seen Vanthourenhout crash out and would also hamper Verstrynge and others.

Nys agreed with the suggestion that being out front alone protected him from being caught up in other riders’ mishaps.

And there was another benefit as well.

“I didn’t really want to come in a situation where you go into the last three, four laps with still ten guys together,” he said. “I felt good and I just went for it.”

The display follows victories in the X2O Badkamers Trofee races in Oudenaarde and Hamme, and puts him into the first leader’s jersey of this season’s World Cup. Flammeville follows next Sunday in France for round two.

But many fans of the sport will be looking further ahead, wondering how Nys will fare against Van der Poel and Wout van Aert when they get their own cyclocross seasons underway.

At 23 years of age he is much younger than those two, but on the basis on Sunday’s performance he appears to be their natural successor in this branch of the sport.

That points to a thrilling clash over the Christmas period, and also in the following month’s world championships.

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