Sean Kelly praises Pidcock, van Aert & van der Poel's ability to "do cyclocross and also the road at a very high level"

The trio of Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel are setting an example for the next generation of cycling riders by showing it is possible to combine both road and cyclocross to an extremely high level according to Sean Kelly.

“It’s great to see," the Irish, former Vuelta a Espana winner says. "It proves that you can do both once you’ve studied it well and the riders get to know what they’re capable of doing in the wintertime." Speaking at the recent cyclocross World Cup event in Dublin, Kelly hopes that seeing the Tour de France green jersey winner van Aert and L'Alpe d'Huez stage winner Pidcock on the crosses will inspire the next generation.

“To have this event shows the younger guys what it’s like, they can see the big champions here and it’s a big boost,” he says. "We’re having a problem that for so many years we don’t have enough of the younger boys and girls coming into cycling. We have a lot of people who are older 35 or 40 who are biking. But we need the younger generation to see that we can have somebody who can maybe go on in cyclocross and also go onto the road.”

Despite spending the majority of his career on the road, Kelly did ride a few crosses in his time. “I did do it in the beginning in my first years as a professional,” Kelly reminisced. “I learnt something from the bike handling but I was way off the pace. I was probably lapped twice during the race. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, but when you look back I think it was something of an experience."