{"id":204233,"date":"2025-11-24T12:12:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=204233"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:12:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:12:33","slug":"dominant-nys-and-indomitable-brand-win-opening-cyclocross-world-cup-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2025\/11\/24\/dominant-nys-and-indomitable-brand-win-opening-cyclocross-world-cup-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominant Nys and Indomitable Brand Win Opening Cyclocross World Cup Races"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belgian champion Thibau Nys and the seemingly invincible Lucinda Brand (both\u00a0 Baloise Glowi Lions) used contrasting strategies to win Sunday\u2019s opening races of the 2025-26 UCI Cyclocross World Cup season. In below-zero temperatures, Brand used her strength to wear down her rivals on the iconic Tabor, Czechia, course, made slippery by patches of frozen and melting ground, while Nys rode a long solo breakaway to victory.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cI had the right legs\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a race marked by hazardous hairpins and a slippery surface, Nys took advantage of one of several crashes among the leaders to open a gap on the second of eight laps, a gap that he never relinquished. The in-form Joris Nieuwenhuis (Ridley Racing), who was leading a three-rider lead group, with Nys and Emiel Verstrynge (Crelan-Corendon), went down in a curve, allowing his fellow travellers to ride away. Nys then attacked hard, eventually dropping Verstrynge, and was never threatened again.<\/p>\n

He led by 9 seconds at the end of lap 2, by 15 seconds over Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen\u2013Altez Industriebouw) at the end of lap 3 and extended his lead to 43 seconds (over Verstrynge again) entering lap 7, before riding more cautiously to avoid the fate that overtook some of his rivals. Verstrynge lost his seat several times during the race. On one of those incidents, on lap 7, he impeded Nieuwenhuis, which allowed Laurens Sweeck to take over second place, a position he maintained until the end. Last year\u2019s World Cup winner,\u00a0Vanthourenhout, crashed hard on the slick pavement near the lap 5 finish line and fell out of contention for a place on the podium, eventually finishing 17th.<\/p>\n

But Nys rode confidently, even majestically, over the tricky course, and if his final margin of victory was only 8 seconds over Sweeck and 10 seconds over Nieuwenhuis, it was because he slowed down on the final few hundred meters to savour his victory and the dominant manner of his win, which reminded not a few observers of seven-time \u2018cross world champion Mathieu van der Poel. The winner understood that the difference was his superiority on the tricky corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a feeling already yesterday during the recon that I could sprint from corner to corner,\u201d Nys said. \u201cBut then, when I watched the races this morning, I thought it was really difficult to get an advantage, but I immediately felt the good legs, and I just went for it. When Joris crashed in the second lap, I got a small advantage, and I always had the feeling like I just tried to keep pushing, and when they come back, they come back. And halfway through the race, I felt like, \u2018What am I doing, actually?\u2019 Because I didn’t make it easy, but I was in control, and I had the right legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup (@ucicyclocrossworldcup)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n