Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert will be absent from tonight's Superprestige Diegem, but cyclocross fans can look forward to another intriguing showdown, the 'Duel of the Future.' Dutch champion Tibor Del Grosso and Belgian champion Thibau Nys will go head-to-head. This could well be a precursor to what’s to come in the coming years.
Thibau Nys has been in the spotlight from a young age. As the son of cyclocross legend Sven Nys, his development has been closely followed by the cyclocross world since childhood. While many might crumble under such pressure, Thibau has more than lived up to the high expectations so far. At 23 years old, he already has five World Cup victories to his name. The Belgian leads a generation poised to eventually succeed Wout van Aert and his contemporaries.
While Nys is the great Belgian hope, 22-year-old Tibor Del Grosso holds that role for the Netherlands. The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider is often compared to his older teammate Mathieu van der Poel. Like MVDP, Del Grosso excels both on the road and in cyclocross, standing out for his playful style.
At the Superprestige Heusden-Zolder, the similarities were impossible to miss. In that race, Del Grosso – wearing the Dutch champion’s jersey with white shorts – defeated Wout van Aert in a two-up sprint. The scene was almost identical to the final sprint in the Tour of Flanders, where Van der Poel beat Van Aert. That was, by the way, Del Grosso’s first professional cyclocross victory, but undoubtedly not his last.
In recent weeks, Nys and Del Grosso have already raced against each other several times. For example, they finished first (Nys) and second (Del Grosso) in Dendermonde. However, Wout van Aert was also at the start there, so that race wasn’t seen purely as a duel between the Belgian and Dutch champions.
In Diegem, it will be different. With both Van der Poel and Van Aert absent, Nys and Del Grosso are the two top favorites. If they continue their current trajectory, they are set to share this status as favorites much more often in the future. We may well see this duel many more times in the years ahead.
