Tibor Del Grosso tempers expectations ahead of Strade Bianche debut

For Del Grosso too, the Worlds still feel like they only happened yesterday. “After that, I had a short period to prepare for the road season, which always feels too short,” he said with a smile after the team presentation in Siena.

“Especially when you start with such a hard race. I don’t know what to expect, but it’s a really cool race,” the Dutchman continued. “I think expectations from the media are pretty high, but for me it’s mainly just a really awesome race to start the season with.”

So Del Grosso is clearly trying to keep expectations in check. “It has become really hard in recent years. You hardly see any riders over 65 kilos finishing in the top twenty, so that doesn’t exactly work in my favour. But the gravel and some of the sections do suit me quite well.”

So what did he learn from his recon ride? “It’s very hard, but the gravel is less technical than I expected. It’s going to be chaotic and really tough. I’m not putting a result target on it, and we’ve got six guys in the team who, on paper, climb better than I do. I did recon the course, but a lot of the sectors are still new to me anyway.”

The advantage he might theoretically have as a cyclo-cross rider is limited too, in his own view. “The explosive sections do suit the cross riders, but it’s not super technical out there,” said Del Grosso, who showed in his latest vlog on YouTube on Friday what his training camp looked like.

“As I said, we still have to do the team meeting, but there are other guys in our squad who can do something here as well. Michael Gogl, for example, has already finished in the top ten here,” he said, referring to the Austrian, who was part of the elite lead group in the 2021 edition won by Mathieu van der Poel.

After Strade Bianche, Del Grosso is scheduled to ride Tirreno-Adriatico and GP Denain, before heading through the E3 Saxo Classic and Dwars door Vlaanderen towards the hilly Classics. He also has the NXT Classic on his Dutch schedule, before lining up for the Volta Limburg Classic, Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race. For now, the Monuments are still being left aside for another year.