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Tom Pidcock has become the first Briton to win the Cyclo-cross World Championship.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider beat Lars van der Haar by 30 seconds to claim the coveted rainbow jersey and gold medal for the first time.
The cyclo-cross is one of three world titles Pidcock could win in 2022, including the mountain bike and road championships.
“I went out as if going to war – I was having none of it,” said Pidcock, 22.
Pidcock’s brilliant victory in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA, comes after he won Olympic mountain bike gold in Tokyo last year.
The Leeds-born rider even had time for a BMX-style jump and kick-out in the final few hundred metres, before lying on his saddle using his stomach to make a Superman-style pose as he crossed the line.
“That was always going to be super hard,” added Pidcock. “The drier it became, the harder it was – the Belgians rode a tactical race [to try to wear me down].”
He had to fight the eight Belgian riders alone from the start as they attempted to tire him out by forcing him to follow alternate attacks.
But the country with so many world titles were disorganised and, each time, Pidcock took the lead of the race himself to force the pace.
On the fourth lap, Pidcock overtook Belgian Michael Vanthourenhout with a late cut-in on the inside of a sharp left-hand turn, ensuring he made a tricky, steep hump first – which caused the pursuing Belgians to concertina and their favourite for victory, Eli Iserbyt, to fall off.
Iserbyt eventually finished third, losing out to Van der Haar in a sprint.
Despite being a favourite through the absence of fellow World Tour riders and former cyclo-cross world champions Wout van Aert of Belgium and Mathieu van der Poel of the Netherlands, Pidcock said: “[With them] not being here it was almost harder to win the race. Everyone expects it’s going to be easier, but you can’t go in with that mentality.”
Cyclo-cross involves races – usually during winter in Belgium and Holland – across a mix of grassland and sand, which includes steep gradients and often sees riders forced to jump off and run with their bikes across muddy sections of the course.
Pidcock is one of the most exciting British talents in cycling, following his Olympic victory last year and his presence on road cycling’s World Tour for Ineos.
In 2021 he won the Belgian classic race De Brabantse Pijl and came second at the Amstel Gold race in Holland.
Fellow Britons Ben Turner came home 14th, with Thomas Mein 20th.
Britain’s Zoe Backstedt won the junior women’s race on Saturday – the 17-year-old finishing ahead of Leonie Bentveld of the Netherlands, with GB’s Ella Maclean-Howell fourth.
The women’s elite race was won by Marianne Vos of the Netherlands.
Pidcock will now turn his attention to the road cycling season, taking part in the one-day spring classics races, before forming part of an eight-man Ineos team attempting to win the three-week Giro d’Italia.
He will then get the chance to win two further UCI world titles at the mountain bike world championships in Les Gets, France, on 24 August, and road title in Wollongong, Australia, on 18-25 September.
The UCI Road World Championships will be live across the BBC.