Tom Pidcock to miss road World Championships due to fatigue

Tom Pidcock will miss the UCI Road World Championships in Wollongong, Australia due to racing and training fatigue. 

The British rider is currently in action with Ineos Grenadiers at the Tour of Britain and confirmed to Cycling News that he will not compete at the event in Australia in late September. 

“I’ve pulled out,” he said. “Mentally, I couldn’t hack another build-up to Worlds. It’s all the way in Australia. If I want to target road Worlds I need to be 100%. I was just dreaming of winning mountain bike Worlds, so when that didn’t happen, I was a bit lost. Then trying to go and win road Worlds, to me, would have been the hardest."

According to reports, the 23-year-old was originally on the Great Britain long list for the championships. As of yet, no final selection has been confirmed by British Cycling but it is understood that Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) will be selected as protected riders for the team. 

In a rollercoaster summer, Pidcock recently became European mountain bike champion after storming to gold medal success in Munich, Germany. Not long after his impressive victory in Munich the Leeds-born rider came fourth after a late crash at the UCI mountain bike world championships. 

After initially impressing on the course in Les Gets, France, the Yorkshireman crashed on the penultimate lap of the course which forced him into a rear wheel change and out of contention. 

On his difficulties in Les Gets, Pidcock said: “It was pretty tough because I had prepared so well and everything seemed to be just going wrong. First, before the race and then in the race. It didn't matter what I did or how hard I tried to control things or get them back on track, something else went wrong. But then coming here, I felt more positive about racing.”

Pidcock is widely considered as being the overall favourite for victory at the Tour of Britain. The 23-year-old finished fifth on the first stage of the week-long race at Glenshee ski centre near Aberdeen, Scotland. 

His participation at the Tour of Britain is his first outing on the road since the Tour de France, where he claimed his a first stage win on Alpe d’Huez in July. 

On the chances of him taking the overall victory, Pidcock said: “I think I can win the race, but we also have some cards to play as well.” 

Ineos Grenadiers also have Omar Fraile, Magnus Sheffield, Michal Kwiatkowski, Andrey Amador and the soon to retire Richie Porte in action with Pidcock this week.