‘I’m an outsider, when I’m at a race I feel that’ - Tom Pidcock defends aggressive style on mountain bike circuit

Published 15/08/2023 at 14:00 GMT

Tom Pidcock used his aggressive racing style to carve out a win at the UCI Cycling World Championships over the weekend, where his tactics were deemed “unsportsmanlike”. The comments led to the Great Britain rider admitting to feeling “like an outsider” in the mountain bike discipline, despite his prestigious record. “I don’t do all the races. I am an outsider and when I’m at a race I feel that.”

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Despite being World and Olympic mountain bike cross-country champion, Tom Pidcock still feels “like an outsider” on the mountain bike circuit.

The 24-year-old won Saturday’s race at Glentress Forest in the UCI Cycling World Championships where he had to deal with mechanical problems to beat Sam Gaze and highly-decorated Nino Schurter.

Pidcock benefitted from a weekend of controversy where a number of star riders were handed preferred grid placements - but was something the Brit condemned - while he also had to deal with accusations over his aggressive style.

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Pidcock feels that although he holds some of the highest honours in the sport, he is not properly accepted by the discipline’s tight-knit community.

“For sure I am an outsider,” he said. “I don’t know everyone super well. I know the people I see frequently and race against and the British guys, but I am an outsider.

“I don’t do all the races. I don’t know everybody. I only know a few teams that I’ve worked with in the past, but I am an outsider and when I’m at a race I feel that.”

Luca Schwarzbauer was an unlucky recipient of Pidcock’s late flurry on the final corner to secure bronze in Thursday’s race, which forced the German to the floor.

Schwarzbauer then complained that “no mountain biker would do this at all, like a pure mountain biker, (of) the community”, which led to Pidcock’s comments about feeling like an outsider.

But just like he had with the mechanical issues he faced on Saturday - he shrugged it off almost instantly.

“I was more annoyed I had to wait an hour for the podium,” he said. “I forgot about it after five minutes.

“But I wanted to make sure I didn’t have any regrets from the short track going into the race because that would have annoyed me. I went in to try and get a medal in front of the home crowd so that’s what I did.”

Pidcock turns his attention to retaining his Olympic mountain bike gold medal in Paris next year, where he is expected to race in the discipline for the last time before switching full focus purely to the road.

“I think the plan with the team is I commit to mountain bike until Paris and after that we have a talk,” he said.

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