“Quite intimidating,” smiles silver medalist Tibor Del Grosso after his “cool first World Championship among the pros” in Hulst

“Quite intimidating,” Del Grosso grins as he sits down opposite the European press in Hulst. Que? “Sitting here, with about twenty people looking at you, is always a bit intimidating. Can I get used to it? It was a cool first World Championship among the pros, that's for sure.”

Del Grosso says he started the race without a specific plan. “The plan was mainly to get off to a good start, because so much can happen in CX. That makes it difficult to plan, but because it was difficult to overtake here, getting off to a good start was definitely important.”

The Dutchman certainly succeeded. He took the lead and immediately got Van der Poel and Nys to follow him. “I was happy that the three of us were able to break away right away, which made it a lot easier.” Van der Poel then pulled away, leaving Del Grosso and Nys to battle it out for silver.

“It was a great battle and I think the crowd enjoyed it too. We pushed each other to our limits, which made it even more worthwhile. I have to say that I really enjoyed it myself, my first World Championship on Sunday afternoon. It was a bit different from an average World Cup, haha.”

The Drenthe native was helped a little by the weather in Zeeland, as it suddenly started pouring with rain. "Thibau was riding on a slightly lower profile, so he had a harder time when it got slippery. I was able to take advantage of that. Thibau made some mistakes and that ultimately decided the race,“ said Del Grosso. ”It went back and forth, because there were sections where Thibau was better and vice versa."

Del Grosso was understandably proud to end his first winter with the pros with a silver medal, but also with other achievements. “It's awesome that I was able to take this step. I would also like to become world champion one day. Mathieu showed once again that he is the best cyclo-cross rider of all time, and it's also impressive to see that when you're riding in his slipstream. His strength, technique, and position... that's unmatched.”

Del Grosso now also has the road season ahead of him. “I'm going to rest for a while and then prepare for the road. I'll start sometime in March, but I don't know my full calendar yet. However, it makes sense that I try to do well in the classics.”

The youngster has long been compared to Van der Poel. “That's a compliment, but it's not really a fair comparison. It's perhaps even a little unfair, because comparing me to Mathieu can only lead to disappointment. Mathieu is Mathieu.”

And Tibor is Tibor.