"If you don't know it's Del Grosso, you'd think it's Van der Poel" - Alpecin may be growing the next classics superstar

Alpecin-Deceuninck have developed and nurtured the talent of Mathieu van der Poel to perfection and might be doing the same with another young talent. Far away from the spotlight, the team is seeing the fast rise of Tibor del Grosso, a compatriot of van der Poel's whose talent and evolution on the bike looks very similar to the one of the current cyclocross World Champion.

"If you don't know it's Del Grosso, you'd think it's Van der Poel," Nathan van Hooydonck said in the Derailleur podcast. "If you look at the way he sprints. He also sprints with his elbows a little outwards and with long strokes... It's really how Mathieu sprints. They also get along well. They're teammates, compatriots and they spend time together. I think they're going to follow a similar path."

Del Grosso is also a cyclocross specialist - and current under-23 World Champion - and besides his incredible talent off-road, his bike handling skills and fun on the bike are also evident; and this spring on the road he has already gone head-to-head with some of the best in the World Tour cobbled classics (with a sixth place at Dwars door Vlaanderen being the highlight). He was very close on two occasions to take his first pro win directly at the Volta a Catalunya, but has in the meantime done so at the Tour of Turkey.

"We can't make him too big yet, so he doesn't get too much pressure," Sep Vanmarcke argued. "Then he could only fail. But he's a huge talent, and someone you also like to see. Last week he won the sprint in the Tour of Turkey very convincingly. You can just see that he's a talent who could possibly make the connection with the top riders."

It is no doubt that the Belgian team is having a big talent developing, and the 21-year old's potential could well see him become yet another leader for Alpecin. "He exudes a lot of self-confidence. Everything goes easily and is fun. It is also no problem if a team starts working for him. And that as a first-year professional. That is also very important: that you can deal with a form of pressure."