Reigning Under 23 world cyclocross champion Thibau Nys has set his sights on a podium place in the elite race at this weekend's UCI Cyclocross World Championships, admitting that it's almost impossible to compete with defending champion Mathieu van der Poel but confident he can be the best of the rest and so save Belgian honour.
21-year-old Nys will be making his debut at elite level alongside the likes of Eli Iserbyt, Michael Vanthourenhout, and Laurens Sweeck.
Wout van Aert is already focused on his road season and so Belgium lacks rider able to really take on six-time champion Van der Poel.
Nys, who finished fourth at Sunday's final round of the UCI World Cup in Hoogerheide, nine seconds down on Van der Poel, said he'll certainly try to compete with the Dutchman, even if it'll be a huge challenge.
"It's not impossible against Mathieu, but it almost is. I just want to be on the podium next week," Nys told WielerFlits.
"I will soon feel how hard Mathieu pushes, but if I feel good, I will definitely push."
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UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships 2024
"I was really disappointed, but apart from that I gained a lot of confidence," he said of his fourth place, just missing the podium in the final sprint in Hoogerheide.
"The good feeling remains. It's very nice to race with that feeling and I look forward to the World Championships. I think I should have been on the podium with these legs. I can blame myself."
Nys was up there with Van der Poel when the world champion made his winning attacks late in the race. He said that he may have been able to hang in there a little longer, noting that he could have finished second rather than falling back towards Baloise Trek Lions teammates Pim Ronhaar and Joris Nieuwenhuis, who will be Dutch rivals on Sunday.
"I was just one wheel too far. I don't think he would have dropped me otherwise," a confident Nys said of Van der Poel.
"I still wouldn't have won, but second place would have been secured and I would be in the wheel longer. I could have answered that attack, although it's almost impossible to ride faster than Mathieu when he is at full speed. But in the slipstream, I could have gone another lap."
2024 road racing ambitions
Like Van der Poel, Nys is set to turn his attention to the road once the 'cross season winds up shortly after the Tabor Worlds.
He'll be taking on his second season as a WorldTour rider with Lidl-Trek having raced 40 days from March to September in 2023.
Last season he competed at a handful of WorldTour races including the Tour de Romandie and Renewi Tour, also winning at the Tour of Norway and GP Kantons Aargau over the summer.
Nys told WielerFlits that he doesn't yet know what he's capable of on the road, saying that he doesn't "dare to say" whether he might one day be capable of winning a Classic, as 'big three' cyclocross stars Van der Poel, Van Aert, and Tom Pidcock have.
"I have the feeling that I don't yet know what I am capable of on the road," he said.
"I hope that I can surprise myself this year and push my limits again. Maybe I will find that a lot is possible, but for the time being it is still a lot of smoke and mirrors for me.
"Can I ever win a Classic? I do not dare to say. And can I ever win a stage in a Grand Tour? Maybe a little quicker. But it is difficult to say now about the long-term goals on the road. While in cyclocross I already had the feeling of 'OK, this is possible'. I can really grow towards the top of the world for a whole season. There is already a bit more progress in this at the moment."
Nys said that he'll have to find the balance between the cyclocross and road seasons in future, as the likes of the 'big three' have. For this season at least, he'll follow the same formula as in 2023, taking a rest after Worlds and then building to the Tour de Romandie in late April.
A Grand Tour debut at the Giro d'Italia could also be on the cards, though that isn't yet certain.
"After the World Championships, I'll take another two weeks of rest, and then I will have a nice build-up to the Tour de Romandie. I want to score there right away. After that, nothing is set in stone yet," he said.
"I expect to do a number of stage races such as the Tours of Norway and Hungary, where I just want to participate and win. The Giro d'Italia is also a possibility, but I'm not fixated on that. If it comes, it comes. But I personally don't assume that."
