Tom Pidcock to sit out road worlds after long multi-discipline season

Published September 5, 2022 06:15AM

Pidcock confirmed to CyclingNews he wouldn’t be racing the road world championships in Wollongong as he pulled the handbrake on a long multi-disciplinary season.

“Mentally, I couldn’t hack another build-up to worlds. It’s all the way in Australia. If I want to target road worlds I need to be 100 percent,” Pidcock told CyclingNews.

“I was just dreaming of winning mountain bike worlds, so when that didn’t happen, I was a bit lost. Then trying to go and win road worlds, to me, would have been the hardest.”

The British road race team was likely to have focused around the 23-year-old ace for a road race that suited his diverse skillset.

Pidcock’s name was frequently mentioned in the same breath as riders like Wout van Aert, Michael Matthews, and Mathieu van der Poel as potential contenders for the Wollongong race.

Team Great Britain hasn’t yet confirmed its selection for the competition later this month, but will likely look instead to riders like Fred Wright, Jake Stewart, and Ethan Hayter in the hunt for a world title.

More selective winter program after long 2022

Pidcock also told CyclingNews that this week’s Tour of Britain could be his last showing on the road for the season as he plots a lighter pathway toward 2023.

Pidcock’s cyclocross program is still to be decided, but could look a little lean compared to the 13 race days of last winter.

Not even a world title defense in Hoogerheide in early February is certain given the “opening weekend” of the classics looms just a few weeks later.

“I want to prepare properly for the classics. I don’t know how much Hoogerheide suits me, it seems to be getting dryer and faster every year. If I’m going to beat Wout [van Aert] and Mathieu [van der Poel], it needs to be a good course,” Pidcock said.

“In my head, I want to do less ‘cross – I don’t want to do the full ‘cross season, then road, then Tour and then worlds, you know? It drags on.

“So I want to be a bit more selective: whether that’s the first part of the season, with the European Championships and the [Cyclocross] World Cup in the UK, or the end of season with the worlds, I don’t know yet.”