'Not impossible' – Tom Pidcock relaxed about mountain bike, cyclo-cross, road trilogy at World Championships

Updated 26/08/2022 at 18:56 GMT

Whether it's cyclo-cross, road or mountain bike racing, Tom Pidcock can do it all. The Olympic MTB champion will be back on his favourite terrain this Sunday, gunning for the second part of what would be a unique trilogy. Pidcock denies that winning rainbows in three disciplines, in the same year, is a particular goal of his. It is, however, "not impossible."

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Tom Pidcock heads to the Mountain Bike World Championships on Sunday, with an unlikely but still quite achievable record in his sights.

Victory in Les Gets, France, will make him the world champion across two different disciplines, having already claimed the men’s elite cyclo-cross title in Fayetteville, Arkansas in January.

That would leave only the road rainbows. The road Worlds take place in almost exactly a month’s time, in Wollongong, Australia, on a course that can certainly be said to suit him. Not that there can be many that wouldn’t.

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Although the press are hyping it up, Pidcock denies it’s something he’s particularly bothered about.

“I think it’s more the media that's given me that goal, than myself,” he says. “I said it would be nice to win all three titles, and then that became in the same year. It's not impossible, but I’ll take it one race at a time.”

As Olympic champion, European champion (as of last weekend) and not forgetting Alpe d’Huez champion, Pidcock goes into the race as a strong favourite, a position he seems perfectly comfortable with.

“It's almost quite a nice position to be in,” he says, “because although I guess I have the most to lose, if everything goes well then I have the easiest route to winning.”

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Not that he’s short of swagger but Pidcock was boosted by his victory in Munich which, he says, “gives me a nice bit of confidence for this weekend.”

That it came after starting from the fourth row can’t have hurt, in that respect, either.

With the demands of the day job only increasing with his profile and as his performances improve, the multi-talented athlete who says, of all of them, “I enjoy myself the most on my mountain bike”, doesn’t get as much time to ride off-road as he used to.

It seems, however, to be a case of less is more for him.

“I'm happy with the amount I do because that way it's exciting when I do it. It's just kind of on the side, and that's quite nice, dropping in.”

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At the moment Pidcock is able to balance his competing two-wheeled interests. He knows, however, that if he wants to become a true GC contender, the wider-tyred exploits will have to make way.

“Not before Paris” though, he is at pains to point out.

By that he means he intends to defend his Olympic MTB title at the 2024 Olympics based around the French capital. So at least another two years of playing about on his mountain bike.

This weekend’s race takes place in the shadow of the tragic death of Scottish mountain bike champion, Rab Wardell. Wardell died of cardiac arrest at home on Monday.

“I didn't know him personally,” says Pidcock, “but by all accounts, he was a lovely guy. It's pretty devastating. My thoughts are with his friends and family.”

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Stream the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships live and on-demand on discovery+. You can also watch all the action live on eurosport.co.uk.

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