Tom Pidcock delays cyclo-cross season start

2020 Cyclo-cross World Championship runner-up Tom Pidcock will delay the start of his reduced cyclo-cross season, skipping this Sunday's Superprestige in Merksplas, Belgium, and picking up at the Tabor World Cup in the Czech Republic on November 29, according to Het Nieuwsblad.

The British rider, who took a surprise silver medal in the elite Worlds race behind the Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel in his first attempt, has decided to put in more training to prepare for the races, having come back from a late post-road season break.

Pidcock won the U23 Giro d'Italia in September and took out three of eight stages. He also claimed two world titles at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in the U23 cross-country race and in the E-MTB category in early October.

The 21-year-old signed with Ineos Grenadiers and is due to travel to Germany this week to undergo testing for his new WorldTour road team.

Pidcock will race in a dozen 'cross events before the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in Ostend, Belgium, in January, including all five rounds of the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in Tabor, Namen, Dendermonde, Hulst and Overijse.

The calendar was reduced from 14 World Cups to only five due to the coronavirus pandemic. The rounds in Waterloo, Dublin, Koksijde, Bensaçon, Antwerp, Zonhoven, Diegem, Villars and Hoogerheide have been called off.

Pidcock won the U23 UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup in 2019, as well as the U23 World Championships and European Championships in the discipline, but opted to move to the elites for the 2019-2020 season.

Tom Pidcock's cyclo-cross calendar

• November 29: UCI World Cup, Tabor
• December 6: Superprestige, Boom
• December 12: X2O Trofee, Antwerp
• December 13: Superprestige, Gavere
• December 20: UCI World Cup, Namen
• December 26: Superprestige, Heusden-Zolder
• December 27: UCI World Cup, Dendermonde
• December 30: Ethias Cross, Bredene
• January 1: X2O Trofee, Baal
• January 3: UCI World Cup, Hulst
• January 24: UCI World Cup, Overijse
• January 31: UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships, Oostende
• January TBC: British Cyclo-cross Championships, Crawley

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