'Why not?' - Tom Pidcock defends decision to race Il Lombardia and Gravel Worlds in the same weekend

After racing a total of 422 kilometres and finishing in sixth place at both Il Lombardia in Italy on Saturday and the UCI Gravel World Championships in the Netherlands on Sunday, Great Britain's Tom Pidcock faced a flurry of questions about his decision to compete in both events on the same weekend. In response, he simply said, "Why not?"

"I like doing things that are different. Also, Pinarello came out with a new gravel bike, and it was nice that I could race on it this year. I tried to do my best here today," he said after more than four and a half hours in the saddle at the elite men's 180.9km race at Gravel Worlds in Maastricht.

"Of course, it was always going to be difficult. We focused more on yesterday [Il Lombardia]. So, yeah, that's why. It's not ideal, but who cares?"

Pidcock arrived at the UCI Gravel World Championships held in Limburg on Sunday to represent Great Britain after having competed in the final Monument of the season at Il Lombardia for his trade team, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, the day before in Bergamo.

The Monument was 241km, and a nearly six-hour race, where he finished in sixth place, 4:16 behind the winner and reigning world champion Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). He then began his travel to the Netherlands later that evening and was considered one of the favourites to win in his debut at the UCI Gravel Worlds.

On the morning of the race, Pidcock admitted to Cyclingnews and a few select media at the start area that he had not previewed the course. And although he had not specifically trained or raced for gravel this year, he was eager to test Pinarello's new gravel bike.

They say hindsight is 20/20, and while Pidcock defended his decision to compete in both Il Lombardia and UCI Gravel Worlds, he did say the 181km gravel race felt somewhat chaotic and that he was underprepared for it.

"The gridding was chaos, the people everywhere, the feedzones everywhere, it's just ... also, I didn't know anything about the race or the course of anything. It was chaos all day," he said in a post-race interview.

"Yeah, it is definitely different [than Il Lombardia] with constant positioning in the first hour or two, which was the most important, I think, and then it's a bit more about the legs."

He may not have ended up in the medals, but he had a strong presence throughout the race, finishing in a group 1:41 behind solo winner Florian Vermeersch (Belgium).

"My legs didn't feel bad, actually, I can't complain too much. I felt alright to be honest," he said.

Pidcock said he doesn't regret racing the Gravel Worlds and that he ended up enjoying the event and the course. "It was good fun, actually. I'm glad I did it. Of course, I was wholly unprepared and suffered from that, but no, it was definitely good fun."

The reigning two-time mountain bike cross-country Olympic Champion and former mountain bike cross-country and cyclocross World Champion says he will now enjoy a well-deserved holiday before turning his attention to the cyclocross season.

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