{"id":63924,"date":"2025-08-13T12:18:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T12:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/63924\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T12:18:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T12:18:05","slug":"its-a-shame-pidcock-snubs-mathieu-van-der-poel-showdown-at-mountain-bike-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/63924\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s a shame\u201d \u2013 Pidcock snubs Mathieu van der Poel showdown at mountain bike World Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two-time Olympic mountain bike<\/a> world champion Tom Pidcock<\/a>
\nwill battle for the rainbow jersey at the 2025 Short Track and Cross Country
\nMountain Bike World Championships<\/a> in Switzerland from September 9 to 14. The
\nBriton, who claimed the title in 2023, is prioritizing the road with Q36.5 Pro
\nCycling Team and will line up at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a instead, meaning fans will
\nmiss a much-anticipated clash with Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> on the trails.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a shame, because I would have loved to participate,
\nespecially to battle Mathieu. But I want to focus more on the road, and we’re rebuilding
\nwith our team. So it makes sense for me to ride the Vuelta,\u201d Pidcock told De
\nTelegraaf. Since his move from INEOS Grenadiers, Pidcock has already raced the
\nGiro d\u2019Italia and many other races this season. On August 23, he will roll out
\nfrom Turin for his second Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, the race he made his grand tour
\ndebut in in 2021.<\/p>\n

Pidcock\u2019s early months with Q36.5 were promising, though the
\nGiro brought a quieter showing, with no stage wins or GC contention. He has not
\nwon a Grand Tour stage since Alpe d\u2019Huez at the 2022 Tour de France three years
\nago, but he heads to Spain with stronger preparation and the hope of a better
\noutcome. His 2025 campaign has already included victory in a stage of the
\nArctic Race of Norway last weekend, two stage wins and the overall title at the
\nAlUla Tour, a stage at the Ruta del Sol, plus podium finishes at Strade Bianche
\n(2nd behind Tadej Pogacar) and La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne (3rd).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But, it is true that it feels like Pidcock needs a big
\nperformance at the Vuelta. For his exceptional talent across
\nmultiple-disciplines, it is time for him to start performing on the biggest
\nstages on the road.<\/p>\n

Van der Poel, meanwhile, will chase the MTB rainbow jersey
\ninstead of the road world title this year. Pidcock still rates the Dutchman
\nhighly. \u201cMathieu might not be having the best time on the mountain bike, but if
\nhe sets his mind to something, you know he’ll eventually succeed,\u201d he said. Van
\nder Poel has collected seven cyclocross world titles, one road race rainbow,
\nand one in gravel. The MTB crown remains his most coveted prize.<\/p>\n

Back in March, Van der Poel admitted to Helden magazine, \u201cIt
\nwould be really cool to become world champion mountain biking one day. That
\nfeels like the last piece of the puzzle of my career. I would really like to
\ntick off that title. If I stop and the world title in mountain biking is
\nmissing, that would be the only thing I would think at the moment: too bad. For
\nthe rest, it doesn’t really matter to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pidcock enjoys going head-to-head with him. \u201cNormally, he’s
\namong the world’s best, and that’s why I enjoy racing against him. Yes, I might
\nhave some prizes he’d love to win, but Mathieu is way ahead of me in terms of
\nmajor road victories. He’s won nine Monuments and world titles in three
\ndifferent disciplines: cyclocross, gravel, and the best of all: road. I’d
\nreally love to win the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Pidcock knows his road ambitions will require
\nprogress. \u201cMy time trial still needs to improve a lot, but maybe I can aim for
\na top ten. Being on the podium of a Grand Tour would be amazing, but winning a
\nGrand Tour is the hardest thing in the world for me. I know what it’s like to
\nwin a one-day race, but a Grand Tour? Phew, that’s a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two-time Olympic mountain bike world champion Tom Pidcock will battle for the rainbow jersey at the 2025 Short…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-63924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}