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.
