Marianne Vos says her Dutch compatriot and soon-to-be Jumbo-Visma Women teammate Femme van Empel will be a "huge rider" in both road racing and cyclocross.

Vos, an eight-time cyclocross world champion, has also won world titles in road and track and knows what it takes to be a combined discipline rider.

Van Empel, the new European champion, is hoping to emulate his fellow Dutch rider and will be competing in road, mountain bike, and cyclo-cross events, moving from Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal to Jumbo-Visma on a two-year contract.

Vos, the world cyclocross champion, has only run three races entering the cross season and finished ninth in Saturday's European Championships as 20-year-old Van Empel won his sixth straight race.

"We have seen that over the last few weeks. It's good to have such a good lineup with the Dutch players and I think we can continue to improve each other," the boss said.

"Of course, we are all looking forward [to Van Empel's move to Jambovisma]. We'll see in the cyclocross season and we'll see what she can do on the road. ......

"We can't put too much pressure on a young rider yet, but it's clear that she has great potential.

Vos enters the cyclocross season after a successful road season in which she won two stages and the points jersey at the Tour de France Femme and two stages at the Giro d'Italia Donnay.

The 35-year-old won six cyclocross races last season, including the World Championships in Fayetteville last January. This season, however, she has been on a winning streak, falling more than three minutes behind Van Empel at Saturday's European Championships.

Vos admitted that he struggled with the tough course, which included a cobbled climb to the Namur citadel.

"It was hard," he said. 'It was hard for me, but it was hard for everyone. All I could think about was keeping my pace and keeping it up. It was definitely a tough day and hopefully there will be better days to come."

"It's early in the season, so we knew it was going to be hard on a course like this.

Vos enters the new cyclocross season with a 14th place finish at the Road World Championships at the end of September.

This season's cyclocross world championships will return to Holland and Hoogerheide, where Vos also won titles in 2009 and 2014. The Dutch star hopes to win the title again on February 4 in front of his home supporters.

"We had a short off period and then we prepared a bit for this season," Vos added.

"Luckily, I have a little time until January and February. The World Championships will be held in my home country, the Netherlands.