Belgian announces road schedule for the coming season with a step up in race quality at the Ardennes and either the Tour or Vuelta
Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) will race a Grand Tour for the first time in 2025(Image credit: Getty Images)
Multi-discipline sensation Thibau Nys will definitely make his Grand Tour debut in 2024 with Lidl-Trek. Whether that will be at the Tour de France or Vuelta a España is still undecided, however, the young Belgian is ready for the step up.
He's towards the crucial point of the cyclocross calendar with the World Championships in Liévin coming on February 2, and looking like he's in the form of his life, but it will be a quick turnaround before he starts his road campaign in April.
After riding a calendar of smaller WorldTour races and .Pro level events last season, Nys revealed his more ambitious schedule for 2025 at Lidl-Trek's January training camp as he looks to build on his nine-win season and develop further.
"In two weeks, the [cyclocross] World Championships are coming, and then I'll take a break of around one week before I start building up again and ride my first road race at the GP Indurain," said Nys talking to media including Cyclingnews.
"Then I'll go to Itzulia Basque country, and I will have Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, maybe Liège-Bastogne-Liège and then Eschborn-Frankfurt. I think it's like the perfect step up to what I did last year and a really good build-up to my goals."
Nys then confirmed the big news that a Grand Tour debut was certain in 2025: "Yes, for sure, it will probably be the Tour or the Vuelta."
Selection will depend on how Nys performs in the Spring and what the sponsors and team see best. However, Lidl-Trek's lead sport director Steven de Jongh thinks the Tour is the most suitable for the 22-year-old with several punchy finishes, including the Mûr-de-Bretagne on offer in the first week.
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"2025 was the year that we always planned him to have to do his first Grand Tour. Then now, if we look all the things in place, I think the Tour would fit him the best, to be honest," De Jongh told Cyclingnews.
"The Vuelta could also be possible. But I think in the whole planning process, the Tour fits him best.
"Also, thinking about what happened with Mads [Pedersen] last year," who crashed on stage 5 and left Lidl-Trek without their only leader, "if Jonny [Milan] crashes out on the first stage, which can happen because it's sport and bunch sprints are dangerous, if we select Thibau, then there are some stages which really fit him, where we can still get a stage win."
Milan will lead Lidl-Trek at the Tour as he targets sprint stages and the green jersey, while Mattias Skjelmose will ride loosely for GC with the team built around the Italian and his Train. Nys could fit well into the early phases of Milan's lead-out while also targeting the punchy hill stages.
Nys has full trust in the team to pick the right course for him, with the option of either Tour or Vuelta not particularly changing his approach to his campaign in the Ardennes up until Frankfurt, after which he'll head to altitude.
Building on a season of success in 2024
Nys taking one his five WorldTour victories in 2024 on stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse (Image credit: Getty Images)
While the majority of Nys' success in his young career has been on the cyclocross field, he was one of the most clinical road racers in 2024, netting nine victories from just 34 race days, five of which were at WorldTour level and with at least one win at every stage race he started.
At a 26% strike rate, very few riders won at a better ratio than Nys aside from the outlier Tadej Pogačar, whose historic Triple Crown campaign saw him win 25 races from 58 appearances – a win rate of 43% that likely won't be matched for some time in men's racing.
For the Belgian, and his team, they were aware of his talents and his pedigree as the son of two-time cyclocross world champion Sven Nys, however, this was still a surprise.
"I think he surprised everybody, including us no? And himself as well. It was, was amazing to see, and also, he put a lot of pressure on himself on those days. But then when he delivered which was super nice," said De Jongh.
"Last year he showed that he can win really difficult finishes, and also now the Winter is going really well for him. He did the European Championships, he took the title. He did the Belgium championships, he took the title, and now he's just won in Benidorm as well against a strong field.
"So he's definitely in a good place. After the cross season, he will have a break and then he will prepare, and he will get a program that he will be ready for the Tour [or Vuelta]."
Nys has certainly shown the pro peloton just how good he can be, but he wants more consistency and to learn from the mistakes he made in 2024. If his progression from 2023 to 2024 is anything to go off of as he builds from 2024 into 2025, he's going to win even more, and at a higher level.
"I'm still figuring out myself. I think we will really step up the game this year, riding bigger races on a higher level, races that suit me, and now it's just about trying to show everything I did last season," said Nys.
"Now I have to bring it over to the big races and try to be ready to win over there, which will not be an easy step.
"Maybe this step will come next year or in two years, I don't know, but I hope to make it. Then in the future, I will just try to be a guy who, at the races that suit me, they will always have to keep me in mind, a rider to watch year in, year out."
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
