Rising cyclocross star Thibau Nys wins on Tour de Romandie summit finish

He won the first round of the 2023-2024 UCI Cyclocross World Cup last October, and on Thursday Thibau Nys triumphed in his first WorldTour road race, the second stage of the Tour de Romandie, on a summit finish. With his first victory with Lidl-Trek, the 22-year-old Belgian took over the race lead.

The GC Situation Overnight

Dorian Godon, fourth in Tuesday’s opening prologue, took over the race lead by winning Wednesday’s 81-rider sprint in Fribourg after a lumpy route. Tuesday’s victor Maikel Zijlaard finished in the penultimate position on Wednesday and plummeted on GC from first to 142nd.

The Course

There were two Cat. 2 climbs as Thursday’s fare, including summit finish Les Marécottes, 7.5 km of 7.6 percent, but there were also a lot of flat roads across 171 km. It was a lovely day in Switzerland, but the the temperature still called for long sleeves and gilets.

First mountain test of the week at the #TDR2024!

Les Marécottes should open some important gaps between the general classification contenders. pic.twitter.com/p5RLIFMs5t

— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) April 25, 2024

A septet of breakaways bounded away early and hit the first Cat. 2 climb with a 3:50 lead. EF Education-Easypost yanked the peloton up the Col des Mosses. It was a long descent to the valley, and when the roads flattened the gap was 2:30. The race passed the UCI World Cycling Centre in Aigle.

The peloton failed to rein in the fugitive group, now down to five, which plumped its gap to 3:00 by the foot of Les Marécottes. When the peloton was within a minute, Godon was off the back. With 3 km to go, Simon Yates accelerated at the front of the still-large favourites group. Luke Plapp and Florian Lipowitz skipped away. With 2 km to climb, the three remaining escapees had a 30-second advantage.

Plapp caught them with 1.5 km to go.

Nys and Andrea Vendrame were able to hang with the Australian to sprint it out. On the final curve, Vendrame went inside Plapp and Nys had to take the long way around. Vendrame tried to hold Nys on the right-hand barrier, but there was no denying the young Belgian.

Friday is a 15.5-km time trial in Oron.

2024 Tour de Romandie Stage 2
1) Thibau Nys (Belgium/Lidl-Trek) 4:02:44
2) Andrea Vendrame (Italy/Decathlon-AG2R) s.t.
3) Luke Plapp (Australia/Jayco-AlUla) +0:04

2024 Tour de Romandie GC
1) Thibau Nys (Belgium/Lidl-Trek) 7:55:32
2) Andrea Vendrame (Italy/Decathlon-AG2R) +0:04
3) Luke Plapp (Australia/Jayco-AlUla) +0:22