"What can I learn from him?" - Tibor del Grosso on racing with Mathieu van der Poel

Tibor del Grosso is a rider that has been developing extremely well within Alpecin-Deceuninck, both in cyclocross and the road, and is often termed the 'new van der Poel'. Now, the two race together at the Renewi Tour and are working to win the overall classification.

Del Grosso is the reigning World Champion and World Cup winner at under-23 level in cyclocross, and his stylish way of racing alongside his bike handling skills, alongside being a compatriot and teammate of van der Poel himself, draw the obvious comparisons.

This year the 22-year old excelled after signing with the World Tour team, finishing sixth at Dwars door Vlaanderen, on the podium twice at the Volta a Catalunya, taking his first pro win at the Tour of Turkey and several other good results. Here in Renewi he enters the final stage in seventh place overall, having finished fourth on the queen stage to Geraardsbergen.

He described this stage in words to Wielerflits. "That certainly wasn't bad. Although I was also a bit lucky that we had two riders at the front of the race. That allowed me to keep my legs still. It was fun to be in the race and be able to compete at the front."

It's his first time teaming up with the reigning cyclocross and gravel World Champion this year too, and the team has the chance to dethrone Arnaud de Lie from the race lead today in the explosive circuit in Leuven. "It's going well, the atmosphere is good too".

"He's also riding strongly, which is nice. It's working well so far. What can I learn from him? I'm picking up a few things from him here and there in the race. But I'm not sure what I should learn from him in Friday's stage. Maybe you should attack with 100 kilometers to go," he joked.