"Compete with them in the Christmas period" - Tom Pidcock hoping to match Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert in the upcoming weeks

Tom Pidcock has proven his form in the opening weekend of his cyclocross season. Although he will only be racing for a few weeks, he hopes to make the best out of the Christmas block and have some success against Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.

“This is my goal: I want to try to win a race this season and compete with them in the Christmas period, like last year in Diegem. I'm hoping for some of those scenarios this winter. That would be nice," Pidcock shared with Wielerflits following yesterday's victory in Namur. In Saturday he finished second to the World Champion in Herentals, however it must be said that he was never within sight of van der Poel. Now scoring points and better starting positions, the Briton may have better chances of matching a possible early attack.

This Sunday he had a modest start and then a mechanical which delayed him. He still flew through much of the field, except for Pim Ronhaar who put up a great performance and was only overtaken in the penultimate lap. “How well did I know him? Pretty good, honestly. But I had never raced against him in such a way as today," Pidcock says of his new rival who has already two World Cup wins this year, and tends to thrive in the muddy courses.

He was asked about his constant change of sock colours which gathered the attention of some, jokingly concluding: "Blue and black socks are crap. And we're switching sponsors next year, so I can now wear a new pair every race.”