Pidcock apologizes on the final evening of the Norwegian course when he arrives a little later than promised. He soon points to the Dutch cycling fabric, Van der Poel, in particular when the World Cup Mountainbike is discussed.
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Pidcock is Olympic champion on that discipline and is on a lonely height. Van der Poel tries to achieve for years what the Brit already succeeded, Olympic and World Cup gold on the MTB. At the end of August, Pidcock normally still runs in the Tour of Spain, causing him to miss the MTB World Cup in Switzerland. ,, Bales, because I would have liked to participate, especially to fight Mathieu. But I want to focus more on the road and with our team we are under construction. So it makes sense that I drive the Vuelta, “said the star of Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.
After an impressive solo, Mathieu van der Poel crowns himself in Glasgow in 2023 as world champion on the road. © Getty Images
Although the question is whether Mvdp does participate in that World Cup. On Sunday, Van der Poel will join the professional round of Etten-Leur, so on the road. Earlier it turned out that the Dutch all -rounder lags behind without thorough preparation in terms of mountain bikeskills, certainly compared to Pidcock. During the summer games of Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024 he did not leave the race after a crash. Also during the World Cup in 2023 in Glasgow he went down. In the last two cases, Van der Poel left the stage through the back door; Pidcock took gold in both France and Scotland.
In May of this year, Van der Poel ran a break in his wrist when he fell again during the World Cup in the Czech Republic. “Mathieu may not have his best period on Mountainbike, but when he puts his sights on somewhere, you know he will eventually succeed,” Pidcock knows that Van der Poel won world cups earlier and was already third in the World Cup. Big victories on me. He has won nine monuments in three different disciplines.
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Both have Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race are to their name. ,, There are similarities in certain respects. I think we both love cycling by feeling, more playful. I don’t just look at numbers. We love the same things, such as beautiful cars haha. Of course we are different athletes. I am smaller and lighter, much more a climber. Mathieu is one of the great classic specialists. Whether we app each other? Every now and then yes, but not very much. ”
Tom Pidcock drives Vuelta
From August 23, Pidcock hopes to resolve his promise as a rider in the Tour of Spain. That the Brit can climb like the best he showed in the Tour de France of 2022 during the heavy mountain rit to L’Alpe d’Huez. He soloed to the victory in a majestic way. ,, In Spain I want to try to finish briefly in the rankings. My time trial has to improve a lot, but maybe I can go for a top ten, “says Pidcock, who wonders himself aloud if he is able to end up on the stage of a big round?” That would be great, but winning a big round is the hardest thing there is. I know what it is like to triumph in a one -day game, but that is? ”
Tom Pidcock during the World Cup in Glasgow in 2023. © Getty Images
Pidcock about retirement
The Brit announced after the Vuelta during the World Cup on the road in Rwanda that he would like to follow in the footsteps of Van der Poel (gold in 2023) and title defender Tadej Pogacar. ‘Pogi’, just like Pidcock, is only 26 years old. Pogacar already expressed that his pension is certainly not ten years away.
Pidcock: ,, I feel old at this age. As a child you dream of achieving things and suddenly you have been for 26 years. Anyway, riders such as Mathieu and Wout van Aert (both 30 years old, ed.) Have booked a lot of beautiful victories after this age. Now I get into that phase of my life and hopefully I can harvest in the big competitions, just like them. “