GB's super cyclist Tom Pidcock lauded as potential world’s best but in which discipline will he shine brightest?
The mountain bike Olympic gold medallist, cyclo-cross world champion and Tour de France stage winner has the world at his feet when it comes to cycling but how does the Brit manage to top the standings in three different disciplines?
Someone, somewhere is very busy updating British cyclist Tom Pidcock’s Wikipedia page.
Just 14 hours had elapsed from when it had last been updated when Olympics viewed the page, and when clicking on, ‘See medal record’, a plethora of results tumbled forth cascading down the screen and into the digital ether, needing a good few scrolls of the mouse to peruse them all.
Enter Pidcock’s name into a search engine and the top four headlines include words like ‘spectacular’ ‘concussion’ ‘super class’ and ‘crash’.
And therein lies the rub – Pidcock is either jubilantly flying around various terrains on two wheels or recovering from flying around various terrains on two wheels.
The man who appears to be part human, part bicycle, pushes the limits of his sport – whether that's the Olympic disciplines of mountain biking or road cycling, or the mud-fest that is cyclo-cross – and finding the edge can be tricky to navigate.
Especially when you’re just 23.
Tom Pidcock’s already world-leading resume
The headlines to Pidcock’s resume read something like this:
- 26 July 2021 – Olympic champion in mountain biking at Tokyo 2020
- 30 January 2022 – World champion in cyclo-cross in Arkansas, USA
- 14 July 2022 – Stage winner of Tour de France at iconic Alpe d’Huez
But even those sensational victories, cemented since he turned professional in 2021 following a junior career stacked with similar global-leading accolades, hide the bigger picture of Pidcock’s talent.
Just weeks before the Summer Games, Pidcock broke his collarbone in a training crash in Andorra, which required surgery.
At the cyclo-cross world championships, Pidcock started as joint favourite with Eli Iserbyt, winning the race despite the latter’s Belgian teammates outnumbering the Brit at the front.
At Pidcock’s first-ever foray into the holy grail of road racing, the Tour de France, British newspaper, the Guardian, had this to say about the Alpe d’Huez triumph.
“In one of the most remarkable exhibitions of climbing and descending seen in the modern Tour de France, Tom Pidcock set out his stall as a future contender by becoming the youngest stage winner at Alpe d’Huez.”
So when stating his desire of wanting “to become the best rider in the world” in an interview with Olympics.com in 2021, prior to these successes, Pidcock was not just rolling out any old platitude – he meant it.
Tom Pidcock, the multi-talented Brit
Far from spreading his talents too thin, Pidcock believes the transference of skills between the disciplines only enhances his ability.
“The biggest thing for cyclo-cross is the benefit for the road season,” he said to Olympics.com. “It's certainly a very difficult sport, I envy road riders sometimes when they get a nice winter off. But I think this is very important for the road season and then it becomes its own challenge in itself.”
Of course, with more cycling come more opportunities, but also more challenges. The past month is a case in point.
On 9 March, the Ineos Grenadiers rider soaked up the scenes in Stade Bianche, cycling through hordes of crowds across the finish line in the picturesque town in Italy, which he described as the greatest achievement of his career.
"The Olympics was probably the biggest win," Pidcock said post-race, "but what I'm capable of on a mountain bike is not as ground-breaking. This is super special in that sense because I feel like I made a big step in my career."
Contemporaries one and all were congratulating the Brit on his triumphant solo attack 50km from the finish in the iconic one-day race across Tuscany, with the likes of two-time Le Tour winner, Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia posting a fire emoji to Pidcock’s emotional Instagram post about the win.
Yet, just days later, Pidcock crashed on the last stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico and was ruled out of the next race, Milan-San Remo, after being diagnosed with mild concussion, curtailing his stellar start to the classics season.
Nevertheless, the Brit is back for the first of five prestigious 'Monument' one-day road races, the Tour of Flanders on Sunday 2 April. The races comprise some of the toughest on the calendar on some of the oldest, most history-laden courses. The new kid on the block will no doubt continue adding to lores of old.
Tour of Flanders 2023 – schedule and how to watch
The men's and women's Tour of Flanders takes place on Sunday 2 April.
The men's race takes place from 10:30-17:00 CET.
The women's race takes place from 17:00-18:30 CET.
For how to watch, check here.
