The GP Sven Nys is the New Year's Day race in Baal, the home village of Sven Nys in Tremelo, and it carries his name. The course is built around the Balenberg, a short hill whose steep, often muddy slopes are lined with spectators, and it adds stairs, flyovers and, since 2019, a descent with dirt jumps. Nys won his own race twelve times, from the first edition in 2000, and in 2016 he finished second to Wout van Aert. Mathieu van der Poel has since won it six times. In 2026 he crashed in the mud halfway through but was quickly back up, and he later rode clear of Emiel Verstrynge, who had stayed with him for most of the race, to win by 37 seconds. As the first race of the year, it closes the Christmas period.