Tibor Del Grosso will have appeared at the Christmas dinner with a broad smile. The Dutch champion experienced his absolute breakthrough moment among the elite on Tuesday in Heusden-Zolder by booking his very first classification victory. And not against just anyone: after a nail-biting final, he defeated Wout van Aert, his role model for years, in the sprint.
In Zolder everything revolved around Van Aert beforehand. Without Mathieu van der Poel at the start, the course seemed ideal for the Belgian to take his first victory of the season. But while the audience prepared for a classic Van Aert scenario, Del Grosso remained cool. Lap after lap he didn’t back down and when the moment came, he kept his nerves under perfect control.
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Poker to the finish
Afterwards, Del Grosso beamed, both in front of the camera and on social media. “What a crazy day yesterday. It’s so cool to compete and race against a childhood hero,” he wrote on
He also gave an insight into his approach in the flash interview with Telenet Play Sports. “It was really cool to sprint for victory for the first time in such a cross. I was reasonably calm. We had a nice lead over the pursuers, so I could really play poker.” There was no stage fright: Del Grosso waited, felt and chose his moment.
Respect back and forth
The fact that he beat Van Aert made the moment extra special. The Belgian showed himself to be a sporting loser after the finish and did not spare the praise. “In retrospect, perhaps I should have started earlier, but then I might have taken Tibor with me in my slipstream. It was sport in its purest form. You should not underestimate the opposition. Tibor is a top talent and he is now showing that he is worth it.”
For Del Grosso, the victory felt like more than just a victory. It was confirmation that he can also hold his own at the highest level, even against a rider he has admired for years. The sprint in Heusden-Zolder was the final part of a day that he himself aptly summarized: crazy.
