"I don't expect to beat them all in a sprint" - Tibor del Grosso knows what needs to be done to win Dutch Championships

Around this time last year, Tibor del Grosso was mainly viewed as a future cyclocross star doing dibs here and there with Alpecin-Deceuninck's road team. But there was no more escaping his destiny after he had won the under-23 Dutch Championships. A year later, the 21-year-old is already viewed among candidates for the elite title.

Del Grosso can look back at a successful spring with his first professional victory at the Tour of Turkiye and almost won a WorldTour stage in Catalunya. On all fronts, a successful professional debut.

For summer, there is only big goal on the young Dutchman's mind - to add elite-category tricolor to his palmares. "The second block led via competitions such as the Tour of Norway, the Epic Port Classic and Het Hageland towards this National Championship. Normally, the form will have to be there," Del Grosso said before the race.

That would be a completely new high in his career. "I also won in Austria and New York last year, but the Dutch title was confirmation for me that I had taken a nice step that year. Something that was also evident from my top 10 places at the European and World Championships later that year. In Arnhem during the race, I never had the idea that I was going to win that sprint, I saw myself being beaten by a few other fast men, but in the end I won by quite a big margin," he reminisces.

"To be able to wear that jersey for a year is one of the beautiful things in our sport, a nice prize to win as well. I certainly hope to become Dutch professional road champion again during my career, but I am not sure if that chance is so great this year in Ede."

But out-sprinting everyone head to head won't be an option against some of world's fastest men. Then it will be up to the young rider to force a selection from which he would have a shot at a victory.

"Certainly if a few teams really start pushing for a sprint. And yes, I am quite fast, but men like Dylan Groenewegen, Olav Kooij and Casper van Uden win bunch sprints in Grand Tours. I don't expect to beat them all in a sprint. My ambition is therefore difficult to express in advance in a concrete result, I just hope to compete for the prizes and trust that more riders will start who want to make a race of it."