Tom Pidcock withdraws from Koksijde due to illness

Later today, the latest round of X2O Trofee action takes place in Koksijde. Although it had initially been pencilled in as a battle for the cyclocross 'Big 3', Tom Pidcock has now been forced to withdraw through illness.

"We received an email this afternoon from Tom Pidcock's entourage. The Brit is ill and therefore cannot start," organisers of the Koksijde cross have revealed in conversation with Het Laatste Nieuws. "We, of course, regret this, but the health of the rider comes first. It's a shame that we don't have the 'Big 3' at the start, but our field of participants should still be good. Lars van der Haar, the leader in the rankings, is also present alongside the cream of the cyclocross world."

Pidcock has had an up-and-down return to the discipline this winter. Despite showing good form and winning at the UCI World Cup in Namur, but also having numerous instances of bad luck. In fact, in his last two outings, Pidcock failed to even make the top-10.

In the meetings between the so-called 'Big 3', Mathieu van der Poel has been totally dominant so far, winning every single time he's taken to the race this campaign. Leaving Pidcock and Wout van Aert to fight for the scraps behind.