Fayetteville (AP) – In the absence of the two superstars Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, the British mountain bike Olympic champion Tom Pidcock won the title at the Cross World Championships for the first time.
The 22-year-old won in Fayetteville/Arkansas ahead of Dutchman Lars van der Haar and Belgian Eli Iserbyt. The German champion Marcel Meisen from Stolberg was 2:07 minutes behind in 18th place.
On Saturday, Marianne Vos from the Netherlands won the cyclocross title for the eighth time. Teammate Lucinda Brand and Italian Silvia Persico took second and third place. The German champion Elisabeth Brandau from Schönaich had to settle for twelfth place, 2:35 minutes behind.
For seven years, van der Poel and van Aert shared the titles among themselves. However, after the Dutchman had decided not to travel to the USA due to back problems and the Belgian van Aert, who is concentrating on the road season, the way was clear for Pidcock on the 3.2-kilometer and technically less demanding course. The Brit pulled away on the fourth of nine laps and won by a margin of 30 seconds.
Meisen had to let go in the first lap. However, a front placement was not to be expected anyway. Since the world championship title in 1992 and second place a year later by Mike Kluge, Germany has hardly played a role in cross cycling anyway.