Alberto Contador compared Mathieu van der Poel to the world's best soccer player, Lionel Messi, claiming that the Dutchman has a star quality that attracts cycling fans that no other player has.

In an interview with Dutch website Wielerflits (opens in new tab), Contador, who retired at the end of 2018, also talked about another young talent, Remco Evenpoel, and how the Belgian had put up Grand Tour winning numbers as a junior He revealed.

Van der Poel has taken the sport by storm, winning three cyclo-cross world titles, as well as a successful mountain bike career and more recently a number of road victories.

In his debut campaign in the classics last spring, he won the Amstel Gold Race in dramatic fashion, as well as the Dwars door Fraunderen and Brabantspijl, and finished fourth in his first Tour de Flanders.

The 24-year-old has not been afraid to attack early and open up the race.

"Right now Van der Poel might look a bit like Messi. Why, you may not support FC Barcelona, but if you had the chance you would go and watch Messi play," Contador said.

"With Van der Pol, when you go to a race, it may be a very small race, but people watch the race to see Mathieu Van der Pol. This is incredible."

Van der Poel is still in the early stages of his career and there is no room for speculation as to what he will accomplish in the future. In the short term, after winning his third cyclocross world title last week, he will target the road spring classics, including Paris-Roubaix, before switching to mountain biking for the Olympics. He will then aim to make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a España.

Contador dismissed the idea that Van der Poel could challenge for a future Grand Tour title.

"Sometimes we are crazy and say things like, 'He could win the Tour.' Some athletes do incredible things, like Peter Sagan, and 'If Peter lost weight, ......' ' and sometimes they say, 'He'd be a great tool. Peter Sagan can take one shoe off the pedal and put it back on and win."

"Van der Pol can attack and gain five seconds on the other sprinters; the rider who finishes second feels like he won because he is behind Van der Pol. In my opinion, it is important to make it clear that he is doing incredible things, enjoy his win, and continue his performance and progress.

Contador also discussed another young star of the sport, Evenpoel, who skipped U23 and turned pro with Deceuninck-QuickStep in 2019 after winning two road race time trial titles at the Junior World Championships Wielerflits asked.

His debut season has been remarkable, with wins at the Clasica San Sebastián and Elite European Time Trial Championships, and a podium at the Elite World Championships Time Trial, and he has already won the Vuelta a San Juan in 2020, which has He has also been compared to Messi in his hometown.

"He is super class. He's a rider who has the numbers to win a Grand Tour." When I spoke to him last year, before the season started, he told me the numbers he had in the tests before the Junior World Championships: 'He has the numbers to win the Grand Tours.'

"In my opinion, Lemko is strong in the classics, but he also has great potential in the Grand Tours. Of course, we will have to see if he recovers well from stage to stage and if he has a strong third week. But in terms of watt per kilometer to fight in the Grand Tours, he has it."