Tom Pidcock

However, despite being considered the favourite for the Under-23 title at the Worlds, he could only finish 15th after enduring a poor start to the race when he lost his footing on the pedals.

On an icy course in Bieles, Luxembourg, Pidcock took the lead from France's Maxime Bonsergent on the second lap of the five-lap race, and held onto the lead for the remainder of the race to take the rainbow jersey, the first British junior to do so since Roger Hammond in 1992.

Pidcock's teammates Dan Tulett and Ben Turner completed the top-three placings, for a British clean sweep of the podium.

Such was his performance, that Belgian media referred to him as a "mini-Sagan", in reference to Peter Sagan.

Thomas Pidcock (born 30 July 1999) is a British cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam.

After a prodigious junior and under-23 career with World Championship victories in all three of these disciplines, Pidcock turned professional in 2021.

After several high-ranking results during the 2015–2016 cyclo-cross season, including a top-five result in the junior race at the 2016 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships at Circuit Zolder, Pidcock came to prominence in the junior ranks during 2016.

In September, Pidcock took a road victory, winning the La Philippe Gilbert Juniors race by 21 seconds from his closest competitor.

Thereafter, Pidcock concentrated on the 2016–2017 cyclo-cross season; in October, Pidcock took a victory in the Superprestige at Zonhoven, just before the UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships at Pontchâteau, France.

In the race, Pidcock was able to work his way into the lead on the third of eight laps, and was able to create a gap to the rest of the field, eventually taking the gold medal by 14 seconds clear of France's Nicolas Guillemin.

Thereafter in November, Pidcock was able to claim victories at the Grand Prix van Hasselt, and the Bollekescross DVV Trophy event, as well as a first podium finish in the UCI Junior Cyclo-cross World Cup, with a third in Zeven, Germany.

Pidcock took his first win in the competition the following month in Namur, taking the victory around the city's citadel by almost a minute ahead of France's Antoine Benoist; he echoed previous celebrations of Peter Sagan and Mathieu van der Poel by wheelieing across the finish line.

The performances had caught the eye of team manager and former world champion Sven Nys, who was looking to sign Pidcock to his team.

In the run up to the 2017 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Pidcock won his first British National Junior Cyclo-cross Championships title in Bradford, and won a second World Cup race in the Grand Prix Adrie van der Poel at Hoogerheide, leading teammate Ben Turner home in a 1–2 finish.

With his form, Pidcock entered the World Championships as one of the junior race favourites.

In April 2017, two and a half months after his win at the Junior World Cyclo-cross Championships, Pidcock won Paris–Roubaix Juniors, breaking clear with a solo attack on the Carrefour de l'Arbre 15 km from the finish.

In May 2017, while riding for the PH Mas–Paul Milnes–Oldfield team, Pidcock became the first guesting rider to win an individual round of the Tour Series criterium competition, soloing to victory in Durham.

In July he went on to win the elite race of the British National Circuit Race Championships in Sheffield, at only 17 years of age, attacking on the final climb on the final lap and taking the title ahead of Harry Tanfield and Jon Mould.

In addition to his success in cyclo-cross, criteriums and road racing, in August he took honours on the track when he won the junior British National Scratch Championships.

On 19 September 2017, he won the junior time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Norway.

At the start of June 2017, Pidcock announced that he would join the team from October, on a two-year contract.

Pidcock made his début with the team at the Polderscross Brico Cross race on 14 October 2017, where he finished as part of a five-rider group – including the likes of Laurens Sweeck and Kevin Pauwels – in ninth place, 77 seconds down on race winner Mathieu van der Poel.

The following weekend, he took his first win for the team; on 21 October, he took victory in the under-23 race at the Niels Albert CX, held in Boom, as part of the Superprestige competition.

Pidcock finished eight seconds clear of his closest competitor, Adam Ťoupalík.

On 22 October, Pidcock again got the better of Ťoupalík in the first under-23 World Cup race of the season, at Koksijde.

In November, Pidcock took the silver medal in the under-23 race at the European Championships, in Tábor, Czech Republic; Belgium's Eli Iserbyt out-sprinted him to the finish line in a two-up sprint but Pidcock raised his arm in protest, claiming that Iserbyt had made an irregular sprint, boxing him in at the barriers.

On 26 December 2017, Pidcock won his fourth World Cup race in as many starts, at the Grand Prix Eric De Vlaeminck held at Circuit Zolder.

With the victory, it gave him an unassailable lead in the World Cup standings, as a rider's best four scores (from seven races) count towards the classification.

In December, it was announced that Pidcock would ride for in road races in 2018.

In the run up to the 2018 UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Pidcock won his first British National Under-23 Cyclo-cross Championships title in Hetton-le-Hole, winning the race by over a minute from his next closest competitor.

In August 2018 it was announced that Pidcock and Telenet–Fidea Lions had mutually agreed to end their contract to allow Pidcock to join new British cyclo-cross team.

The team was established by rider agency Trinity Sports Management, and a spokesperson for Trinity indicated that the new team would be built around Pidcock.

The team made their debut in October 2018.

During the 2018–19 season, Pidcock won a second Under-23 Cyclo-cross World Cup, the Under-23 Superprestige, the Under-23 European Championship, and the Under-23 World Championship, as well as the senior British National Championship.

After the cyclo-cross season, Pidcock added to his success at Paris–Roubaix Juniors two years previously by winning Paris–Roubaix Espoirs in June 2019 in the colours of Wiggins Le Col. Pidcock and Johan Jacobs attacked off the front of a nine-man leading group with 25 km to go: Pidcock attacked again and left Jacobs behind with less than 20 km to go and rode solo to the finish to take the win, making him the first British rider to win the Under-23 version of the race.

He made a successful transition to another discipline the following month, when he won the Under-23 British National Mountain Biking Championship in Cannock Chase with a sprint from a three-man group at the finish of the race.

At the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, held on home roads in Yorkshire, Pidcock crossed the finish line of the Under-23 road race in fourth, although this was subsequently promoted to third as the initial apparent winner Nils Eekhoff was subsequently disqualified.

Since then his biggest victories have been taking the cross-country mountain bike titles at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2023 World Championships, the 2022 Cyclo-cross World Championships and the prestigious spring road classic, Strade Bianche in 2023.

Across all three disciplines, he has won numerous other races, with his biggest victory on the road in his first season being the 2021 Brabantse Pijl road classic.

In his second season, riding his first Tour de France he took his first Grand Tour stage, winning solo on the climb of the iconic Alpe D'Huez, the youngest rider ever to do so.