Pidcock recovers from ‘chopper mistake’ to win Euros

Cyclo-cross ace tells Vern Pitt he’s over his early-season woes

Rising British star Tom Pidcock has said it was a “chopper mistake” that cost him in the early part of the cyclo-cross season as he celebrated a return to winning ways at the European Championships at the weekend.

Pidcock had yet to win a race this season at the beginning of the weekend but he put together a near flawless race to take the title with reigning under-23 world champion Eli Iserbyt in second. “I had a brilliant start, I don’t normally start very well, but after a lap I was second then I was out on my own,” Pidcock told CW.

The Leeds-born rider said that he had also felt he was returning to form at the third round of the Superprestige the previous weekend but that a bad start had left him chasing for much of the race in which he eventually finished ninth.

When asked why he’d struggled this season, the first in which he has raced for his Tom Pidcock Racing, he said: “I changed my position. I got injured from it so my performances weren’t great… It was just that I haven’t got an actual recorded position from last year. I’ve got an idea of what it was, I’ve got loads of things people have recommended and then I kind of made my own, but I didn’t write it down. Chopper mistake,” Pidcock said.

He added that he had also been ill, at one point having to take iron to help him recover as he was “anaemic basically”.

He added that he had felt pressure racing for his eponymous team for the first time and that came on top of a road season for Team Wiggins, where he had delivered few memorable results. Although he said he’d tried to approach the road season with less pressure than he does cyclo-cross, it was difficult not to pursue success and these things had a cumulative effect.

“People have almost forgotten about me a bit — it’s nice to prove I am as good as I was,” he said.

“I’m almost forgotten about — it’s nice to prove to people I’m as good as I was”