Talent under the age of 23 is stepping up to the professional ranks with a variety of expectations, and with three consecutive U23 World Championship time trial titles under his belt, the Dane has his sights set on becoming the best time trialist in the world at any age.

Egan Bernal became the youngest winner of the Tour de France in 100 years, Remco Evenepoel won a junior to World Tour race and an elite title, and Tadej Pogacar took three stage wins and third overall in his first Grand Tour After a season in which Tadej Pogacar won his first three stages and third overall in his first Grand Tour, the time it takes for young talent to reach great heights is becoming shorter and shorter.

Bjerg, who will turn pro with UAE Team Emirates, tried not to let the pressure get to him as he spoke to Cycling News at the team's training camp in Spain in December.

"When a player like that gets big results in his first year, it motivates you, but it doesn't put pressure on you.

"The Bernal and Evenpoel story is like one in a million.

Nevertheless, Bjarg is hardly self-effacing when it comes to measuring his own abilities and acknowledging his own ambitions.

"I think I'm one of the ten best in the world right now in time trials.

"If I'm already in the top 10 without turning the pedals as a pro, then of course my ambition is to be the best.

"I'm trying to be the best and that's my motivation.

"I look at data a lot. Last year at the Danish Championships, I saw the level of Kasper Asgreen. I saw my power that day and I knew what I needed to do to close the gap with Kasper. Hopefully in the next few years I will progress and become the best I can be."

Bjarg will make his pro debut at the Tour Down Under in Australia in January, and in February at the Volta Ao Algarve, he will compete against other riders in his first time trial as a pro.

He then competed in a semi-classic in Belgium before being selected to represent his country in major one-day races.

"Racing in the Classics motivates me," he said.

"I need to mature a bit in order to be successful in the Classics. The distance of the Classics is so long that when I reach the last 50km as a neo-pro I might run out of gas. When you watch the Tour de Flanders on TV it doesn't look so hard, but I have done the U23 Flanders and that was very hard. Maybe in the future I could do a good run there, but at the moment it seems like a really good jump. Just going to Flanders without finishing is a really big experience."

Bjerg has remained silent on the matter, but a challenge to the UCI Hour Record could happen at any time in 2020.

He had talked this fall about challenging the 55.089 km record set by Viktor Kampenaerts in April. He then changed his mind about a non-UCI sanctioned attempt at the Danish time record (53.975 km), which was stolen by Martin Toft Madsen earlier this year, but this was shelved due to illness.

At the World Championships, Bjarg said he would attempt the official record during his three-year contract with the UAE,

"It's ongoing. We will see during the season if it is possible to break this record next year, and I hope the team will support me 100%."

"It'll be then and there, but if I'm really in good shape and can break it this year, I don't think I need to wait. The longer it drags on, the greater the chance that Rohan Dennis will come along and break it.

"The Hour Record is just a threshold hour. If you want to have a good race, you should certainly concentrate on it a couple of months in advance, but it's not that different from the race calendar. In my view, you can do a World Tour race three weeks in advance and still achieve an hour record. You don't have to change your training just to focus on the hour record."

In any case, the hour record is a useful indicator of how far Bjarg wants to improve as a time triallist. While he shines on the World Championships course, with its combination of punchy ramps and fast sections, he would like to "do more TT efforts like the Hour Record."

The World Championships, to be held next September in Aigle Martigny, will feature time trials on a flat 46-km course along the valley. At the end of the first season, the real test will be how they fare against the world's best on the biggest stage.

"This is my big ambition for next year. I want to do well at the World Championships," Bjarg said, citing Denis, a two-time winner, as a benchmark.

"He's the guy to beat and probably won't go bad in Ineos."

But Bjerg should be even better. Can he be the best?

"Even if it's ultimately impossible, he will have done his best, and I'm proud of that."