That allowed Del Grosso to drive away. ‘It was too late to change and I had to make do with what I had. Then I knew it was going to be difficult, because I was losing seconds every corner.’ In the final lap we indeed saw the Belgian slipping and sliding, which was a lot less with Del Grosso.
Could he have made that choice differently? ‘Maybe. We didn’t expect it. If it had been ten minutes earlier, we could have switched to a heavier profile.’ And so Nys had no choice but to take responsibility for it. ‘Now it was too late and I take responsibility for that, because it was a risk. I’m not using it as an excuse either, but a mistake. And that is part of cyclocross: it is about making good legs and avoiding mistakes, in the broadest sense of the word.’
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‘This was a World Cup here, wasn’t it’
Wellens does not understand much about the choice of tires. ‘I have something to say about that. If you see that you are the only one who chooses that profile, then I think you should change. The tube Thibau rode with is, in my own eyes, a woman’s tube. Men have too much power to drive that.’
The Belgian saw that his compatriot realized the mistake. ‘Afterwards, Thibau also admitted that he could perhaps have driven with a heavier profile. This was a World Cup here, wasn’t it? Then you must choose that heavier profile. Technically Thibau is one of the very best and yet he lost ten to fifteen meters on every descent. And certainly when it started to rain, it was over for him.’
“Again, if your main competitors start with a heavier profile, you have to change, even if it is on the penultimate lap,” Wellens continues. ‘A change might have cost him twenty meters, with this profile he lost more than a hundred meters. It’s not Formula 1, I hear. Wrong, it’s becoming more and more F1 where details like tubes or the rain make the difference. Standing on the left or right of Mathieu on stage is different, isn’t it?
