Tom Pidock becomes first Brit to win Cyclo-Cross Championship

Tom Pidcock won the Cyclo-Cross World Championship for the first time on Sunday 30 January 2022 and became the first Briton to win the medal.

The rider for Ineos Grenadiers beat his second place rival, Lars van der Haar, by 30 seconds as he claimed the rainbow jersey and gold medal.

Not only did Pidcock have an impressive 30 second advantage over his nearest competitor, the Brit also had time for a Superman-style pose as he crossed the finishing line.

Pidcock’s win, which took place in Fayetteville, Arkansas USA, comes after he won the Olympic mountain bike gold in Tokyo last year.

This is not the only world title the 22-year-old from Leeds could win in 2022 as the cyclo-cross is one of three World titles: the Mountain bike and Road Championships make up the remaining two.

Cyclo-cross races take place across a mixture of grassland and sand and include steep gradients, and the races often see riders jumping off, running with their bikes across muddier sections of the course.

From the very start, Pidcock was fighting his way through to the end. There were eight Belgian riders alone who attempted to tire the Brit out and forced him to follow alternate attacks.

Speaking after the race, Pidcock said: “I went out as if going to war - I was having none of it.

“That was always going to be super hard. The drier it became, the harder it was - the Belgians rode a tactical race (to try to wear me down).”

However, it was ultimately a tactical race that did not come off well for the country with so many world titles. The Belgians were disorganised and Pidcock was able to take the lead of the race himself to force the pace.

Pidcock was able to overtake the Belgian rider, Michael Vanthourenhout, in the fourth lap with a late cut-in on the inside of a sharp left-hand turn and Pidcock’s tricky steep hump caused the Belgians to concertina and their favourite - Eli Iserbyt - to fall off.

Iserbty finished in third as he lost out to Van der Haar in a sprint.

Pidcock had been a favourite to win the Championship. He is one of Britain’s most exciting young cycling talents after his heroics in Tokyo and presence on road cycling’s World Tour for his Ineos team.

2021 also saw the young star win the Belgian classic race De Brabantse Pijl as well as coming second at the Amstel Gold race in Holland.

Fellow World Tour riders and former cyclo-cross world Champions Wout van Aert of Belgium and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands were absent from the 2022 Cyclo-cross race and Pidcock said: “(With them) not being here it was almost harder to win the race. Everyone expects it’s going to be easier, but you can’t go in with that mentality.”

Pidcock was joined in the race by fellow Brits, Ben Turner and Thomas Mein who finished in 14th and 20th respectively.

Pidcock will now turn his attention to the road cycling season. He will take part in the one-day spring classics races and will then form part of an eight-man Ineos team attempting to win the three-week Giro d’Italia.

There are two further UCI World titles up for grabs for Pidcock as he attends the mountain bike world Championship in Les Gets, France, in August as well as the road title in Wollongong, Australia in September.

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