Tom hopes experience helps at cyclo -cross worlds
Tom Pidcock believes his status as Olympic mountain bike champion can work in his favourashetriestobecomeBritain’sfirstUCIcyclo-crossworld champion this weekend.
Pidcock, who has cyclocross rainbow jerseys at junior and under-23 level and finished second in the elite race in 2020, is among the favourites for Sunday’s race in Fayetteville, Arkansas in the absence of three-time winner Wout Van Aert and defending champion Mathieu van der Poel.
Cyclo-cross is a different challenge to the one Pidcock met when he stormed to Olympic gold on his mountain bike in Tokyo, but experience is the key transferrable skill.
“I’d never felt any pressure like (the Olympics),” the Yorkshireman said. “That was on another level. Now, coming to these championships, it’s easier to cope because I don’t think anything is going to be like Tokyo.
“I showed myself there that I can deal with whatever pressure so it’s easier to concentrate on the process.”
Still only 22, Pidcock has already proven himself the multi-tool of British cycling with major titles on the road, mountain bike and cross.
Olympic gold put Pidcock on the back pages but cyclo-cross is yet to enjoy the same profile as road racing or mountain biking in the UK – something Pidcock hopes to change.
“It is growing and has been for the last few years,” he said. “The news that we might have a World Cup race in the UK next year is a massive thing and there’s an opportunity now. It’s the most explosive discipline I do. Someone asked me what’s the hardest discipline I do and without doubt it’s cross.”