Thibau Nys (Baloise Trek Lions) threw warning to the wind at spherical 1 of the Superprestige Cyclocross collection and crashed out of rivalry for the race win at the ultimate lap after overshooting a nook.
Nys risked it focused on the win as he divebombed up the interior of eventual race-winner Eli Iserbyt (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) within the remaining minute of racing in Overijse, however got here in with an excessive amount of velocity and misplaced his entrance wheel and with it, the race as he rolled in for fourth.
The Belgian had chased for lots of the eight-lap race after an off-camera crash noticed him lose round 20 positions on the second one lap. The race culminated in Nys as opposed to Iserbyt at the ultimate lap after the previous made the catch, however Iserbyt controlled to keep away from coming down with Nys and were given going once more sooner than his teammate Michael Vanthourenhout may catch him at the line.
“I in reality sought after to go one bend previous, however Eli [Iserbyt] stored the door firmly closed. Then it was once all on that descent,” mentioned Nys instantly after the race.
“I had selected the easiest line there each lap, however It was once actually darkish there within the wooded area and I could not see a lot via my glasses. I believed I might throw it up the interior, and uh… I took an excessive amount of chance.”
Nys’ father, the cyclocross legend Sven Nys, highlighted the highs and lows of the off-road area, punching the air as his son took the lead, milliseconds sooner than the discontentment got here with Nys junior lacking out on his 3rd successive win in 2023 due to the crash.
It wasn’t all dangerous for Nys on the end, happy by way of his comeback from the rear of the pack and appearing how mature he’s along how neatly he’s functioning at simply two decades previous, neatly above the standard timeline of an under-23 pass rider.
“I had in reality already gained my race after I got here again,” mentioned Nys “I’m very happy with that. I did not be expecting to be this just right nowadays both. I felt actually dangerous all through the recon.
“In the second one lap, my pedal were given caught at the back of a pole and I used to be catapulted which put me round 25 puts again. I then picked everybody up one after the other with an ideal tempo and was once ready to get again to the entrance.
“The truth that I may have gained the race is a very powerful factor for me. I loved myself.”
Nys is a celeb within the making throughout disciplines, already a cyclocross Global Champion at junior and U23 point. He additionally took his first elite-level Global Cup win on the opening spherical in Waterloo previous this month after an outstanding street season.
Skilled wins on the Excursion of Norway and Grosser Preis des Kantons Aargau have been his first at the street with Lidl-Trek, with 2nd position on a degree of the WorldTour-level Excursion de Romandie additionally a spotlight for 2023.
Sven Nys was once transparent on his want no longer for his son to be weighed as much as the multi-discipline stars of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Wout van Aert (jumbo-Visma), however the 20-year-old will fight to keep away from the comparisons given his abilities on his pass and street motorcycle.
Van der Poel and Van Aert have been joined in an unique membership of riders to have gained an elite males’s cyclocross Global Cup sooner than the age of 21 by way of Nys after his triumph in Waterloo and went directly to win 8 CX international titles between them, along maximum of street biking’s maximum prestigious races.
Nys will have to be headlining the vast majority of males’s cyclocross races for the rest of the 2023/24 season, however he most probably gained’t face Van Aert, Van der Poel or the opposite member of the disciplines ‘large 3’, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) till December once they start their off-road seasons.