Tom Pidcock rides rainbow jersey into unlucky fifth place at Snowshoe World Cup: "It’s certainly been far from straightforward since the worlds but I felt good"

Tom Pidcock, the new XCO World Champion, has put on an impressive display of power at the Snowshoe World Cup race in the USA, however two mechanicals saw him out of the fight for the win.

"It’s a bit frustrating really. Two flats in one lap. It’s not ideal but I did the best I could to get back to the front, but there wasn’t enough time left. I got into the rhythm for a little bit for half a lap until I punctured again," Pidcock said in a statement issued by INEOS Grenadiers.

After winning the Worlds in Glasgow, and with the Olympic Games in mind for next season, the Briton is picking up a busier MTB schedule. He was third in Pal Arinsal, but was far from contention in the Paris Olympic Games Test event. This weekend he showed himself quite well again, but had to make two comebacks after two punctures, which took too much time out of his race for him to contest the win - taken by Jordan Sarrou.

"I didn’t want to go too hard at the start of the race as my top end is not there yet but it was much better today. It’s certainly been far from straightforward since the worlds but I felt good today. It’s a positive and I can look forward to next weekend."