One missed pedal stroke cost him the win in Gavere, but the way Thibau Nys went toe-to-toe with Mathieu van der Poel says far more than the mistake itself.
If cyclocross still needs proof that its old hierarchies are shifting, Gavere on Boxing Day supplied it. Thibau Nys didn’t win. He didn’t even make it to the final lap in contact. But for seven hard laps, he did something very few ridrs can now claim: he rode Mathieu van der Poel as an equal.
That matters more than the result sheet. And with Tom Pidcock sitting out ‘cross…Nys is in the triumvirate.
The Belgian’s race hinged on a single, cruel moment. As Van der Poel lifted the pace on the decisive climb, Nys fumbled his pedal — twice — and the elastic snapped. “The lap that it goes full throttle, I miss my pedal twice and I lose some connection,” Nys said afterward. From there, the world champion did what he always does: one surge, daylight, over.
Yeah, of course the context is everything. This was not a random rider hanging on. This was Nys actively shaping the race. He tested Van der Poel repeatedly on the Gavere climb, forcing responses, setting tempo, refusing to wait. “I just wanted to ride my own race and not regret afterwards that I had been too lax,” he said. The subtext was clear: better to lose on your terms than fade anonymously.
What finally undid him wasn’t legs so much as logistics — and the cold. Nys pointed to numb feet, overtightened shoes, and a complete lack of feeling at the worst possible moment. “I really don’t have any feeling in my feet anymore, maybe that’s why I didn’t quite know what I was doing anymore,” he said. It’s an unglamorous explanation, but cyclocross often turns on such details.
There’s also the bigger picture. Nys arrived in Gavere after a rough stretch — 23rd in Antwerp, 14th in Heusden-Zolder — races complicated by ongoing back issues. When things line up, he says, the power is there. Gavere proved it. Even he acknowledged that Van der Poel still had another gear, but that gap is no longer a chasm.
Which brings us to the point: Nys no longer belongs in the “best of the rest” category. On form, on intent, and on race presence, he now sits alongside Van der Poel and Wout van Aert as part of cyclocross’s Big Three.
Cold feet cost him the race. Nothing cost him his status. Listen, it’s awesome watching MvdP stamping his authority on everyone. But it’s cool to see someone–especially a rider whose last name…
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