Tibor Del Grosso lights up Strade Bianche debut with wheelie exhibition

Tibor Del Grosso arrived at the white roads of Tuscany, set to make his Strade Bianche debut, coming off the back of a successful cyclocross season where he won two rounds of the Superprestige series in Heusden-Zolder and Diegem, as well as defending his Dutch title, before finishing 2nd at the World Championships in Hulst behind the record-breaking Mathieu van der Poel.

With the success of bona fide cyclocross stars such as Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock winning the race in recent years, the arrival of another big talent from the cross field was an intriguing storyline to follow.

The 22-year-old Dutchman was one of nine riders to feature in the day’s breakaway, which was caught after UAE Team Emirates-XRG ramped up the pace ahead of Tadej Pogačar’s attack 79km from the finish that would see the World Champion seal a record-breaking fourth victory in Siena.

Despite being caught, Del Grosso still had the desire to entertain the thousands of fans that lined the roads, with the multi-disciplined Dutchman showing off his skills, pulling wheelies on the uphill gravel sector Le Tolfe, and on the final climb to Piazza del Campo via Santa Catarina.

In the end, Del Grosso finished 76th, 14:42 behind the winner, Pogačar, but the Dutchman certainly won the hearts of many fans with his showmanship and enjoyed a purposeful day out in the breakaway, building towards his next objectives. 

Next on the horizon for Del Grosso is Tirreno-Adriatico, which kicks off on March 9. From here, the Dutchman is set to race the GP de Denain, E3 Saxo Classic, Dwars door Vlaanderen, NXT Classic, Ronde van Limburg, De Brabantse Pijl and the Amstel Gold Race.