Mathieu van der Poel teammate Tibor Del Grosso reacts to first weekend with the rainbow jersey: "I hope to make a step up to the elites"

Cyclocross may have its new star in the form of Tibor Del Grosso. The Dutch 21 year old is currently the World under 23 cyclocross champion, and wore his new rainbow jersey for the first time in Tabor where he won on Saturday. And then in the senior race in the World Cup Namur, he managed a very respectable fifth place.

Riding for Alpecin-Deceuninck will of course mean he remains in the shadow of the dominant Mathieu van der Poel for some time, but the team will be happy they have another potential cyclocross star in the making in Del Grosso.

“It went well. Cyclocross is never easy and it felt a bit tough on my back, but I have nothing to complain about,” Del Grosso told In de Leiderstrui after his opening weekend of the season. “I quickly had a gap and could therefore choose my pace a bit, but it was still quite a struggle.

“It's cool in that rainbow jersey anyway. Everyone knows that jersey and it attracts a lot of attention, so that was cool.”

But is Del Grosso ready to make a permanent jump to the elite? He finished inside a minute of the winner Michael Vanthourenhout on Sunday, and that will have given him confidence that he can get closer and closer throughout this winter.

“The World Cup is always the biggest race and I also hope to make a step up between the elites. I have received a lot of questions before the season about whether I would still ride with the U23s, but if it goes well, I will still be elite for fifteen years. So I still have plenty of time for that.

“Maybe I'll only be world champion once in my life and then I want to ride in that jersey a few times,” he continued. “The great thing is that it's easy to combine: I ride half with the U23s and the other half with the elite."