Tom Pidcock almost made the monumental effort to work his way up the field at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole look easy. Though, just in case anyone needed a reminder that it was anything but, even the powerful form of on road rival Mathieu van der Poel couldn't follow in his footsteps.
The pair had both swapped over from the Tour de France, and had just one World Cup round under their belt this season to earn points and get their eye in. They also started alongside each other on the fifth row, but the similarities ended once the race got underway.
"Getting back towards the front was complicated: I crashed in training on Friday and I had some back pain," said Pidcock in a media statement put out by race organisers. "I could not make extreme changes of pace, so I tried to ride at my own tempo and keep the energy I needed to make the difference at the end."
It turned out to be a hand played to perfection for the British rider, who worked his way to the front group and then attacked on the penultimate lap. That move took Pidcock to the top step of the podium, delivering another world title to the 2023 victor, who also has claimed gold in the discipline at the last two Olympic Games.
“Along with the Tour de France, these UCI World Championships were my target for the season," said Pidcock, who before the World Championships had walked away from the French Grand Tour with two trips to the stage podium in third and ninth place overall. The path, from there, has had its challenges.
"It has been a difficult period, marked by the death of Finlay Tarling. This win is for his brother Joshua,” said Pidcock of his compatriot and former Ineos Grenadiers teammate.
Van der Poel, who has a swathe of world titles across cyclo-cross, gravel and also on the road, walked away from the Tour de France with two stage victories and a clear demonstration of strong form plus an impressive Les Gets effort to instill confidence. Still, as he continued his pursuit of the missing mountain bike world title, he failed to gain any moving-up momentum in Val di Sole, so the Dutch rider watched Pidcock ride away and had to settle for 30th place.
Now the question is what will happen next, with another rainbow battle set to unfold in Montréal at the UCI Road World Championships at the end of September.
"I am happy to have shown that I am stronger than Mathieu van der Poel on a mountain bike," said Pidcock. "I think he is stronger than me on the road, but one day I want to win the UCI world title there as well."
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