Interview with Tom Pidcock: "It's all about pleasure!"

TOUR: Tom, you recently attended the presentation of the Tour de France 2023 in Paris in person. Have you already found out which stage could be good for a tailwhip?

Tom Pidcock: For a tailwhip? (laughs) To do this, I would need to know a few more details than just the rough route. I would need to know exactly where the speed bumps are or the bridges.

Tailwhip is the name of this show-stopping move in which you or Mathieu van der Poel pull the rear wheel at right angles to the direction of travel during cyclocross or mountain bike races. But seriously, what drives you most in cycling? Is it about winning, putting on a show like the tailwhip, simply pushing yourself to the limit or torturing yourself?

I would say it's a bit of everything. It's about hard work, about being as good as you can be. And seeing the results of that hard work.

What is the best thing you get out of cycling?

Difficult question ... (thinks) Well, I enjoy it - it's all about pleasure!

When people see you cycling, they quickly realise that you approach cycling differently to your predecessors?

Well, of course, I approach things differently to the older generation. If only because I compete in three disciplines - that's something that wasn't exactly widely accepted or done in the past.

And the races are run differently ...

Yes, everything is a bit faster and more explosive now.

You are part of a trend, a new generation of cyclists: after all, there are now some super all-rounders like Mathieu van der Poel or Wout Van Aert who compete in various cycling disciplines at the highest level. Where does this development come from?

It just happened. Mathieu and Wout were the two who started doing it at the highest level - at least in the time I was following it. I would say it's just more accepted to do it now.

These two were your role models?

I think so, in a way. I owe them the inspiration when I was younger.

You are Olympic mountain bike champion, Cyclocross world champion and have been Tour de France 2022 the mountain stage to Alpe d'Huez won. If you had to choose one of the three disciplines as a professional, which would you choose?

Road cycling - because it is simply the most important discipline, the pinnacle of cycling. It's the hardest to win in; and it's more tactical than the others. Of course, in terms of bike control, road cycling is not comparable to off-road cycling. But in every other respect.

And what fascinates you about the off-road disciplines?

I like both of them. The challenge with mountain biking recently was that I'm actually quite inexperienced and have to overcome this lack of experience - I enjoyed that. Cyclocross is the discipline in which I had my first really big success. And I simply love this intense format.

What captivates you more: if you could outrun ten-time MTB world champion Nino Schurter in a challenging, blocked downhill section or Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard in a mountain finish on the road?

I think I'll go for the more physically demanding scenario: to lose Vingegaard or Pogačar in a mountain finish - I think that would simply be the more significant result.

People probably still have the images of your breathtaking descent from the Galibier Pass during the Tour de France in their minds, as you sped past many of your rivals at 100 kilometres an hour. Have you ever heard the term fear?

Of course! If you don't feel fear, you don't know your own limits. - Tom Pidcock

When was the last time you were afraid?

Just the other day when I was walking along the road and a car suddenly pulled out. I also always feel fear when I'm driving downhill. And I still remember my first "opening weekend" very well (Start of the classics season in Belgium at the end of February with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne races; editor's note): We went down the New Kwaremont with 150 guys on the wide road at 80 kilometres per hour; everyone was fighting for their position - that was also very scary. We do a dangerous sport - whether we like it or not. Fear is part of it. And it also depends on the circumstances, your own condition: Everything can be under control, you feel safe. And other times you feel insecure and anxious. You have good and bad days, whether physically or mentally.

Many German fans probably didn't even realise that: You had a very bad crash at the Tour de l'Avenir a few years ago. To what extent did this affect your riding style?

That was the worst fall I've ever had. I can't remember it, I lost consciousness for a moment. I can only refer to a video of the fall. I made a mistake by riding too fast into a corner in the wet, then crashed and hit a wall. I was in the lead that day, I probably would have won the stage and taken the yellow jersey. It was the last corner of the descent just before the finish. It's particularly annoying because I'm not really one to take unnecessary risks. After that, it affected me for quite a while when I had to descend in the wet.

Now you have overcome problems on descents?

I would say yes.

What is the challenge for you personally in combining three disciplines during one season?

There simply isn't much time to adjust. It goes on all year round. That's the hardest thing about it. But at the same time, that's exactly what I like.

You left it open for a long time whether you would defend your title as cross-country world champion. How difficult is it to take all the highlights with you?

The next World Championships are a week later than usual - which is inappropriate for me. Because what I know for sure is that I want to have a more straightforward preparation for the road season this time.

We play a dangerous sport. Whether we like it or not, fear is part of it.

You wanted to become triple world champion in 2022: You won the cyclocross title in February, then you became European mountain bike champion in Munich and then you wanted to become World Championship title in mountain biking and at the end of the season in the road race. But after finishing fourth at the MTB World Championships, you cancelled the season. What went wrong?

Firstly: I never formulated this goal in this way. The media surmised that.

But it was your goal, wasn't it?

Sure, it would have been nice. What went wrong: I fell ill before the Mountain Bike World Championships and then had a flat tyre during the race. I was actually really well prepared and in top form. Although a few things went wrong, I was mentally very strong - and I'm a bit proud of that. But you could say that I was kind of fed up afterwards.

Is it still your goal to win the three titles within one calendar year?

It's definitely nice to try and win it - as the first ever.

What are your next goals?

Firstly, I want to enjoy the cyclo-cross season in the world champion jersey. After that, I want to have a decent and consistent road season. Last year was all ups and downs with illnesses - Covid and digestive problems.

What do you specifically expect from the road season: Are Paris-Roubaix or the overall classification of the Tour de France on the agenda?

This all still needs to be discussed. I would of course try both in the future. I'm looking for these challenges. But when? I can't say for sure.

Are you planning in the medium term up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris?

For Paris, for the mountain bike competition, I need points. That's why I'm going to ride a few more mountain bike races next year and compete in the World Championships in Glasgow after the Tour de France. That's one of my big goals for next year.

You come from the city of Leeds in Yorkshire, where the 2019 Road World Championships took place around Harrogate. What's it like to start cycling there as a young lad? You have a choice of city traffic or narrow winding roads with walls and hedges that are difficult to see. Wasn't that dangerous?

No, it's really not dangerous there, and there's not much traffic either. And it doesn't usually rain as much as it did during the World Cup. That was the heaviest rainfall I've ever experienced in Leeds! There's a great cycling culture here. My father was a cyclist, he got me into cycling. And there's a great cycling scene at home with lots of different types of rides and cyclists of all different strengths. It's just a great place to be a cyclist - really!

Her brother Joseph, who is three years younger, also wants to become a professional cyclist. He currently rides for the Groupama-FDJ junior team. What was it like in the past - was the way to school often a bike race between you and your brother?

Basically, I cycled to school every day, that was about a mile or a mile and a half, sometimes I also cycled through the forest - until I finished school at 18. But I never had much competition with my brother.

Strava shows that last May, in the week between the two Mountain Bike World Cups in Albstadt and Nove Mesto, you cycled 190 kilometres from nowhere in Germany to somewhere in the Czech Republic. Can't get enough of cycling?

Well, that shows that I like to train hard. You don't have the same attitude in mountain biking. You don't train as much as the road riders - maybe because you don't have to for the hour and a half that the races last. Back then, we simply drove a bit by car towards the Czech Republic to the hotel. Then I planned a route to where our truck was parked and drove there the next day. I had a shower there, a bite to eat and then we continued.

Tom Pidcock: Facts & Achievements

About the person: Tom Pidcock

• Nationality Briton
• Born 30 July 1999 in Leeds (GBR)
• Size 1.70 metres
• Weight 58 kilogrammes
• Professional since 2021

Teams

• 2018-2019 Team Wiggins
• 2020 Trinity Road Racing
• since 2021 Ineos Grenadiers

Important successes

Street

• 2017 Junior World Champion Individual Time Trial; Paris-Roubaix Juniors
• 2019 Paris-Roubaix U23, World Championship third place road U23, Tour Alsace
• 2020 Giro d'Italia U23
• 2021 Arrow of Brabant, second Amstel Gold Race
• 2022 Tour de France stage win

Cyclocross

• 2016/17 World and European Junior Champion
• 2017/18 European Championship runner-up U23
• 2018/19 British champion, European and world champion U23
• 2019/20 British champion, world championship runner-up
• 2021/22 World champion, 2 World Cup victories

Mountain bike

• 2020 World Champion Cross Country U23
• 2021 Olympic Cross Country Champion, 1 World Cup victory
• 2022 European Cross Country Champion

E-MTB

• 2020 World champion