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Tom 'Pidders' Pidcock

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Schurter looked really strong; would have taken all things going right to beat him. It was also very hot -- a shady, more technical course might have suited Pidcock better. He was 4th in the lead group and barely hanging on when the race came apart.

That said, this might have been Tom's best chance to do the WC triple (assuming either Wout or MvdP races the CX championships next year...)
 
That said, this might have been Tom's best chance to do the WC triple (assuming either Wout or MvdP races the CX championships next year...)

and also because everything seems to becoming together (apart from Cx of course) under one event. So he'll have to choose next year....while it makes sence and looks fancy that all events are at the same time in the same city. Courses might not be as good and with multi discipline riders coming through (pidcock, Christen, mvdp, etc), it feels its come at precisely the wrong time.
 
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He got to the front, and then sat on, and didn't really ride away as expected. That's when I thought he might not have his best form; similar to Nove Mesto....however, he managed to win there.

He is capable of winning all 3, but probably not in the same year. And he's going to have to get a better starting position, which means riding more World Cups to improve his ranking.
The same thing happened to MvdP in 2018 at Lenzerheide; started way back, got into 3rd place and the front two were a minute up on him.
 
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and also because everything seems to becoming together (apart from Cx of course) under one event. So he'll have to choose next year....while it makes sence and looks fancy that all events are at the same time in the same city. Courses might not be as good and with multi discipline riders coming through (pidcock, Christen, mvdp, etc), it feels its come at precisely the wrong time.

It will be interesting to see how they organise the various races; one hopes they make it possible for riders to do both.
 
I don't really believe becoming WC in all three disciplines is achievable for Pidcock. MTB is probably the easiest one for him to do, but both WVA and MVDP are just plain better than him at CX and on the road the competition is much, much stronger. It would be impressive enough to win the road race WC even once in his career tbh.

Also I can't say I'm a fan of him trying to juggle all three disciplines, I don't believe it's ideal for his performances. If you look at his performances on the road; it's not bad but I believe he could achieve much more if he didn't "half as$" it like he's doing now. I'm getting the same vibes as with VDP in the sense that it seems like he's just doing whatever he feels like.
 
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I don't really believe becoming WC in all three disciplines is achievable for Pidcock. MTB is probably the easiest one for him to do, but both WVA and MVDP are just plain better than him at CX and on the road the competition is much, much stronger. It would be impressive enough to win the road race WC even once in his career tbh.

Also I can't say I'm a fan of him trying to juggle all three disciplines, I don't believe it's ideal for his performances. If you look at his performances on the road; it's not bad but I believe he could achieve much more if he didn't "half as$" it like he's doing now. I'm getting the same vibes as with VDP in the sense that it seems like he's just doing whatever he feels like.
This is what I like the most about these guys.
 
He is capable of winning all 3, but probably not in the same year. And he's going to have to get a better starting position, which means riding more World Cups to improve his ranking.
....
It will be interesting to see how they organise the various races; one hopes they make it possible for riders to do both.

there are 3 less world cups next year before the worlds and it comes just after the tour ends - 23 July. (1 1/2 weeks) Worlds - 3-13 July. Good for tour legs I suppose. Be interesting to see what he does, I can see the road race course being relatively flat, with a small bunch at the finish in the centre of glasgow.

also he never actually said all 3 in the same year, just over the course of his career. so he really only has two years to win the mtb worlds with all indication that he will stop in 2024 after Paris.
 
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there are 3 less world cups next year before the worlds and it comes just after the tour ends - 23 July. (1 1/2 weeks) Worlds - 3-13 July. Good for tour legs I suppose. Be interesting to see what he does, I can see the road race course being relatively flat, with a small bunch at the finish in the centre of glasgow.

also he never actually said all 3 in the same year, just over the course of his career. so he really only has two years to win the mtb worlds with all indication that he will stop in 2024 after Paris.
There's enough hills around Glasgow to make it difficult, and if they have a similar city circuit to what we've seen it can be raced hard, but we've not even had rumours of what's planned yet from what I've seen and I worry it'll be pretty much nothingness until they hit the city.
 
It's certainly entertaining and I appreciate it but I don't believe it's good for their career tbh. At some point they'll have to focus fully on one discipline or it's always going to cost them.

also he never actually said all 3 in the same year, just over the course of his career. so he really only has two years to win the mtb worlds with all indication that he will stop in 2024 after Paris.
 
It's certainly entertaining and I appreciate it but I don't believe it's good for their career tbh. At some point they'll have to focus fully on one discipline or it's always going to cost them.
I suppose it depends how they define their success. I think the different disciplines likely motivate them better too. If you're bored with one you can dive into the other.
 
also he never actually said all 3 in the same year, just over the course of his career. so he really only has two years to win the mtb worlds with all indication that he will stop in 2024 after Paris.

Yes, afaik, his main ambitions for the next two years are retaining his Olympic MTB title, and winning the World Championships, so there'll probably be much more of an emphasis on that discipline in two years time. After that, the assumption seems to be that he'll then focus on GC riding for a few years at least?

Didn't know the combined World Champs were much earlier than normal next year. So I expect he'll just do MTB/classics for the first part of the season, with no GTs until the Vuelta?

Bit of a *** personally, as it can be pretty tricky getting leave from work during the school holidays.
 
another one to pull out of the worlds...seems to be more mental fatigue after losing the mtb worlds.
and looks to be either european cx block including the world cup london (if it happens) or the worlds block. probably the former.
Why can't it be both? Last year he raced from the beginning of December through to the end of January, which included a rest and training block following racing la Vuelta and the Worlds RR. This year he appears to be finishing with the ToB which would give a greater period of time between starting in December. With that in mind he could maybe start late November and then have time to get back in to the swing of things and peak for the rumoured London WC and and then again for the Hoogerheide Worlds. I realise he says in the article that it doesn't suit him as it's getting drier and drier each year but he was third last year in that WC and then won on probably the driest Worlds course ever (albeit it was slightly lumpier than the field of Hoogerheide). If I recall correctly he won the Rucphen WC which is quite similar to the Hoogerheide one and was also pretty dry bar a couple of damp patches due to morning dew/frost on the ground.]

Maybe the build up for the classics is his worry, but it only really seemed to be unsettled by his illness so why not try the same route as it went fine apart from that in my opinion.
 
Why can't it be both? Last year he raced from the beginning of December through to the end of January, which included a rest and training block following racing la Vuelta and the Worlds RR. This year he appears to be finishing with the ToB which would give a greater period of time between starting in December. With that in mind he could maybe start late November and then have time to get back in to the swing of things and peak for the rumoured London WC and and then again for the Hoogerheide Worlds. I realise he says in the article that it doesn't suit him as it's getting drier and drier each year but he was third last year in that WC and then won on probably the driest Worlds course ever (albeit it was slightly lumpier than the field of Hoogerheide). If I recall correctly he won the Rucphen WC which is quite similar to the Hoogerheide one and was also pretty dry bar a couple of damp patches due to morning dew/frost on the ground.
I think he is just down at the minute so doesn't quite have the drive to think about competing against wout and mvdp. Although he took a big training block and was focusing more on the worlds, he did lose out to eli and lars in hoogerheide. He seems to also want to be fresh for the classics next year after what was a disappointing campaign this year, largely due to illness and possibly fatigue. (travelling to usa etc).

No matter what he says now, he will definitely like to show off his rainbow jersey this winter.

I would really like to see him have a decent build up (over a month break then tabor onwards including koppenberg) to the euros (namur should suit him) and then to london. take a short break till christmas and do a slow build up to the world with less races. Which hopefully should leave him in a good condition for the classics.
 
The Euro CX are in Namur this season, followed by the World Cup in London (which has surprisingly very little info 3 months from the race). I can understand if he targeted them rather than the latter half of the season....In which most races possibly won't suit him if it's really muddy.
 
I think going off recent years and looking at the schedule ...something like:

Tabor (wc)
Ruchpen (wc)
Koppenberg
Euros
Overijse (wc)
Hulst
Gavere - Antwerp (wc)
London (wc)?

Zolder
Diegem
Baal
Hamme - Besancon (wc)
Worlds

so around 15 crosses..but you could forget the christmas stuff to prepare fully for classics.

He did 13 last year but only started at the beginning of december having finished the road worlds at the end of september, followed by a slight injury I think after initially planning to ride the world cups in america.
 
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I think going off recent years and looking at the schedule ...something like:

Tabor (wc)
Ruchpen (wc)
Koppenberg
Euros
Overijse (wc)
Hulst
Gavere - Antwerp (wc)
London (wc)?

Zolder
Diegem
Baal
Hamme - Besancon (wc)
Worlds

so around 15 crosses..but you could forget the christmas stuff to prepare fully for classics.

He did 13 last year but only started at the beginning of december having finished the road worlds at the end of september, followed by a slight injury I think after initially planning to ride the world cups in america.
I'd throw maybe an X2O or Superprestige in before jumping in and doing any WCs straight away.

If he's quite tired, as I don't think he's had a proper let up since the start of the road season, then going for the Euros at the beginning would only really leave a 1 1/2 months since the end of road competition to have time off the bike, start training, and build back up to top form including having any prior races like Tabor.
 
It's no surprise that Pidcock is missing the World's, even though on a suitable course with his heavy program mixing three disciplines - The Road World's will lack depth in this year with so many riders missing whether it be form, injury or chasing UCI points.