The impressive skill of Tom Pidcock on a mountain bike may only be matched by his confidence. The Ineos Grenadiers’ rider is betting on himself to win Sunday’s first World Cup of 2023, and quite happy to say so.
Pidcock called his win in a conversation with the UCI World Series on Thursday.
“I’ve never lost in Nove Mesto,” Pidcock said in an interview on the World Series website. He’s referring to the XCO of course, because he’s definitely lost the XCC in the past.
“I really like the course, I just feel good here,” Pidcock added. “It’s technical and pretty physical. All the roots means there’s not much rest, even on the flat you are having to work to keep momentum over the roots and there are quite a few climbs too – more than a minute long.”
Born to mountain bike? A history of confidence
Pidcock has good reason to be confident. He has won every XCO World Cup he’s started in Nove Mesto. He’s also the reigning Olympic world champion. And he’s done all that while balancing cross country with success on the road, where he’s won a Tour de France stage and a Classic, and in cyclocross, where he has a world championship title.
So it is understandable if he decides to forego modesty and call wins. As he points out in Red Bull’s new Race Tapes series, his “ability to jump on a mountain bike and win, that can’t be so normal, can it?”
Or, as he stated after beating Mathieu van der Poel in the Nove Mesto World Cup back in 2021:
“Honestly, I think I was born to mountain bike.”
Whether Pidcock’s strings of wins in Nove Mesto is a birthright or just a very impressive start will be decided Sunday in the Czech Republic. While Mathieu van der Poel won’t be there to try prove him wrong, reigning world champion Nino Schurter surely will look to contest that claim.
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