Pidcock, like his great rival Mathieu van der Poel, started on the fifth row, but unlike Van der Poel, who finished in 30th position, he powered through the field before soloing clear to take a fine win.
Two-time Olympic champion. World champion in 2023. European champion twice over. Nine individual World Cup wins and counting. On paper, there was no rider in the Val di Sole field with a palmares remotely close to Pidcock's. He has been a dominant force in pretty much every XC race he has entered over the last few years; but this year has offered precious few days to prove it.
A lack of MTB race days made no difference; Pidcock was untouchable on his Pinarello Dogma XC bike. Cyclingnews was on the ground at Val di Sole, and we took a good look at Pidcock's bike ahead of the race.
The bike: A Dogma XC built for one rider
Tom Pidcock is riding his trusty Pinarello Dogma XC, but in a new light blue colourway (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
The Pinarello Dogma XC is a bike developed in close collaboration with Pidcock himself, and it's every bit as purpose-built and uncompromising as its rider.
It's an aggressive, almost old-school take on the modern XC bike, and quite different from the longer-travel, slacker, more trail-focused bikes in the rest of the World Cup field.
Pidcock usually runs a very trick-looking European Champs paint scheme, but since he isn't allowed to use it for this race, Pinarello created this for him, a paint scheme that not only works well with his GB kit, but the graphics also match the Cherry Red RockShox SID SL fork lowers perfectly.
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The suspension is unchanged from last season's winning formula: RockShox's electronic Flight Attendant system is fitted front and rear, with a SID SL Ultimate fork paired to a SIDLuxe Ultimate shock.
The system automatically switches damping modes according to terrain and effort without Pidcock needing to think about a lockout lever on the climbs. It's a clean, tried-and-tested system that XC riders have widely adopted.
We got some time with one of the Olympic champions race bikes ahead of the men's race. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
Pidcock used an SRAM Flight-attendant-equipped RockShox SID SL fork and rear shock. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
There's only one pair of bottle cage bosses on the frame's downtube, the unit under the shock is the electronic Flight Attendant unit. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
Pidcock ran a 36 tooth chainring, Quarq integrated power meter and 170mm long crank arms. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
SRAM's XX SL T-Type transmission takes care of shifting and Pidcock had a 10-52 cassette. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
He may be running a SRAM drivetrain, but Shimano XTR SPD pedals were fitted to the bike. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
Braking comes via SRAM's Motive Ultimate brakes in a standard black finish. No World Champs custom specials here, which struck me as odd for a rider of Pidcock's calibre. Whilst the brakes are excellent, they seem a bit lacklustre aesthetically compared to those being used by his competitors. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
The cockpit is Pinarello's in-house Most brand; it's clean and uncluttered. Pidcock uses ESI foam grips, a long-standing favourite of many XC riders due to their combination of low weight and shock-absorbing qualities. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
That is one clean bar. Only the front brake hose was really on show; Pidcock had a stem-mounted computer mount rather than an out-front unit. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
A RockShox Reverb AXS wireless dropper post gives him 100mm of drop, and it was topped with a Prologo Scratch NDR saddle with carbon rails. Pidcock pushes his saddle back on its rails, like his road bikes.Most of his peers are the other way round, with saddles slammed forward to both open up their hip angles and give a more efficient position on steep climbs where weighting the front of the saddle is key to rear wheel grip. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
Pidcock's wheel choice is probably the most interesting of the build. His wheels are a little different. He runs Berd PolyLight spokes; they are a braided Dyneema polyethene construction that can save up to 200g and also apparently improve compliance, no bad thing on a bike famed for its stiffness. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
They are paired with unnamed hubs and a rim with its stickers covered up. He ran Zipp 1Zero Hitop wheels with the Berd spokes earlier this year, but the mechanics and his team were tight-lipped about their origin. Could it be a new wheel from SRAM? (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
With it reasonably dry and the course running fast, he had the Vittoria Peyote tyres fitted in a 2.4 size; they are badged as Vittoria Labs, the brand's R&D division so he was presumably using a different casing and or compound for Sunday's race, to eke out as much advantage as possible. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
The Peyote is already one of the fastest rolling XC tyres in the field, so it'll be interesting to see what, if any, improvements have been made. Note the paint pen marking on the right-hand side. (Image credit: Neal Hunt)
