Former cyclo-cross world champion Tom Pidcock refused to commit to racing cyclocross this season, with the likelihood of him pinning on a race number up in the air.
Speaking at Rouleur Live on Thursday on a range of topics, the Ineos Grenadiers rider said “at the moment no, but possibly” when he was asked whether he would be taking to the mud this winter.
The 25-year-old, a winner at the highest level on the road, in mountain biking and in cyclo-cross, rode eight CX races last season, winning one, the UCI World Cup in Namur.
“At the moment no, but possibly,” Pidcock explained. “It has been a long year, I needed a proper break away from everything, but there’s a possibility I do some races over Christmas and the new year. We can figure out that later.”
In 2023, Pidcock did not start racing cyclocross until the 16 December, in a mini-season which lasted until the 21 January, but even this short a stint off-road seems in doubt at present. The previous year, his CX season lasted from mid-November to January, and in 2021, the season which ended with World Championships victory in Fayetteville, he raced from the beginning of December to the end of January.
The Ineos rider hasn’t raced in any discipline since he was controversially “deselected” from Il Lombardia in October, a decision which ended his season prematurely. He has returned to the Ineos fold, however, appearing at the team’s camp in Manchester last week.
The British rider isn’t the only former CX world champion to waver about racing this season. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) is unlikely to race before almost Christmas, with a team training camp running until 19 December. Meanwhile, reigning world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has not committed at all, saying in October: “We still have to decide whether or not I will race cyclocross this winter.”
Pidcock, the two-time Olympic mountain bike champion, also suggested that he could skip mountain biking in 2025, depending on his road programme.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked for his plans next year. “It depends on my road programme. If my road programme fits so I can do the Worlds I’ll try and race some World Cups to get some points. If not, maybe I take a year out of mountain biking.”
