Pocket rocket Tom Pidcock stirs up the world of cyclo-cross | Tim Lewis
16 February 2020 08:00
A 20-year-old Briton has caused something of a sensation in a winter sport that can be a lot more fun than road cyclingCyclo-cross videos do not really go viral – at least not outside of Dutch-speaking Belgium – but there’s one that been doing modest traffic recently. It features the 20-year-old British rider Tom Pidcock at this month’s world championships in Switzerland. When the action starts, he’s surrounded by four Belgian riders in national-team uniform, making it a pleasing echo of the famous Diego Maradona photograph from the 1982 World Cup. But suddenly Pidcock accelerates, weaving in and out of the Aertses and Van Aertses, skimming over the grass and claggy mud like a four-wheel drive set against underpowered automatics. The clip is 11 seconds long, but when it cuts, Pidcock is no longer even in shot. It was filmed on 2 February, and underneath the cycling writer Simon Warren noted: “Britain leaving the EU”.The video reminded me of a Fabian Cancellara attack at Paris-Roubaix in 2010. It’s hard to talk about that sandwich-dropping footage now, because it has been overtaken by claims – in a video watched five million times – that the Swiss rider could only have achieved it with mechanical doping: that he had a motor inside his bike. Suffice to say that cycling has so brutalised its fans, for so long, that no form of cheating would be entirely surprising. But also, there are clearly brilliant, mercurial (and clean) individuals in the sport who are capable of feats on their bike that make you jump from your sofa. Which, I guess, is why so many of us keep watching the sport. Related: A climate of uncertainty: pro cycling in a warming world | Adam Phelan Continue readingread full article
