Rufus YouTube series<\/a> released by his Baloise Glowi Lions cross squad.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m still in a phase of my career where I\u2019m growing. And then you always want to do better next season than the year before. I want to win more races, I want to extend my titles and dominate wherever I can. I want to take another step and bring spectacle everywhere. That\u2019s my goal,\u201d he says bluntly.<\/p>\n
He duly delivered in the Koppenbergcross, winning it for the second year in a row. He was at the front of the race by the end of the last lap and then rode his rival off his wheel, ending up well clear of everyone bar Cameron Mason.<\/p>\n
The Briton was 21 seconds behind at the finish; Pim Ronhaar was next, a full 1:44 back.<\/p>\n
He predicted a big ride before the race. \u201cThe level is high, but\u2026 mine is going to be higher,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Setbacks on Sunday
\n![\"Thibau](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244157393.jpg\"\/)
Thibau Nys had a lot of bad luck during the \u201cRapencross\u201d cyclocross in Lokeren on Sunday 02 November 2025. (Photo: David Pintens \/ Belga via AFP)<\/p>\n
He started Sunday\u2019s X2O Badkamers Trofee race as one of the top favorites but was plagued by bad luck. He changed bikes early on, but his replacement machine hit a bump and his brake shifters slipped downwards. He changed machines again, but the next bike had crooked handlebars. Farcically, the saddle slipped on his next bike.<\/p>\n
That all held him back, and so too did two subsequent crashes. He ultimately finished 15th in a day he will wish to forget.<\/p>\n
Still, the form he showed Saturday sets him up well for the defense of his European title next week. However, he admits the course at Middelkerke will be a tougher ask than last year\u2019s race.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sand skills aren\u2019t that great,\u201d he said on Saturday, \u201cso even with this shape it\u2019s going to be really, really difficult to win the European championships again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nys is clearly intent on a big cross season, and has certainly started on a bright note. Other road stars are more cautious: Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert are holding off for now, with the latter saying recently that his road season will take priority and that it will be a few more weeks before he will appear.<\/p>\n
Getting the timing just right?
\n![\"Thibau](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2244028876.jpg\"\/)
Thibau Nys was impressive in Koppenbergcross (Photo: Jasper Jacobs \/ Belga via AFP)<\/p>\n
As for Tom Pidcock, another of the so-called \u201cBig 3,\u201d he has been riding the Gravel Burn in South Africa. His own cyclocross season debut is also delayed.<\/p>\n
Nys has no such qualms and is already going flat out. That approach will enable him to fight in the Europeans and to do well in upcoming races, but it remains to be seen what effect this could have on his road season.<\/p>\n
Last year he started strongly, winning the GP Miguel Indurain as his first road race. He had a solid performance in the Ardennes Classics, netting 12th in the Amstel Gold Race, eighth in Fl\u00e8che Wallonne and fifth in Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
However, the rest of the season was below the expectations of him and his team. There were high hopes for his Tour de France debut but his 12th-place finish on the stage to Carcassonne was his only result inside the top 50.<\/p>\n
Given that he rode 22 cross races last winter, much more than the big three, it\u2019s legitimate to ask if he left too much on the trails then, and risks doing so again now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nys won Saturday but had a litany of issues in Sunday\u2019s cross race. Will his early start compared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,153087,85,73257,153088,67883],"class_list":{"0":"post-260133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-parent_category-cyclocross","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tag-lidl-trek","14":"tag-tag-thibau-nys","15":"tag-type-article"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Thibau](\"https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2243984517.jpg\")
<\/p>\n