Dylan Groenewegen may be one of the best sprinters in the world, with a huge palmares and lots more to come, but he was no match for the 15-year-old rider he went head-to-head with in a cyclocross race in Amsterdam yesterday.
The BikeExchange-Jayco rider had to settle for 2nd place, just seconds behind his young rival - and Dutch national U16 cyclocross champion - after trying to hunt him down in the closing stages of Amsterdam Cross Competition in Het Twiske, north of Amsterdam.
Michiel Mouris (15) wasn't afraid of the World Tour star he lined up alongside at the start and stayed with Groenewegen in the early stages before forging ahead of the technical parts, least suited to the road sprint star.
While Groenewegen came back at him, the schoolboy continued to press on out front and held on to beat one of his heroes. Wessel Mouris (19), the winner's brother, rounded out the podium on the day, with Groenewegen denying them a family 1-2.
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“It is very special to beat Dylan here,” the 15-year winner told NH News after putting Groenewegen to the sword. “In the beginning I was in his wheel for a while, because Dylan rides very fast of course. On the technical parts I was always in the lead and I was able to make a gap.
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"It went really well. I started all the way at the back, but luckily I was able to move forward quickly. I didn't expect to win this morning, because Dylan is of course riding very fast," he said, adding Groenewegen "got close to me in the last part of the race but it's special that I beat him".
Groenewegen, who was riding the race for training and is not a cyclocross specialist, said he was very impressed by Mouris, adding while he was still very young he was showing great promise.
"He rides very fast and could hold it for an hour. He did that very well, I couldn't get him back," he said of the teenager. "He is Dutch champion with the youngsters and they are already racing so fast these days. That shows that he's a very great talent. Now comes the time when he has to be serious about his sport.”
He added while he raced primarily for a high intensity work-out, he had tried his best but was beaten by a more skilled rider on the day.
'It went well, although I said in advance that the technical parts with all those corners are a bit less for me. The straights and slopes went well, but in those technical parts I always lose ten meters to those young guys."
