Double Olympic champion Tom Pidcock celebrated his eighth UCI cross-country World Cup win (out of 11 starts) on Sunday (13 July) at Pal Arinsal, Andorra, as he returned to mountain bike racing for the first time since last year’s World Championships at the same venue (when he won bronze).
The 25-year-old multi-talented Brit, who last raced on the road at the 2025 Giro d’Italia, delivered another trademark come-from-behind performance after starting from the fourth row on the grid. Wearing the white-and-gold kit of Q36.5, the Yorkshireman rode aggressively and tackled the technical rock sections with confidence — all while testing new equipment.
After working his way through early traffic, Pidcock latched on to the lead group on lap 2 of 8. By the halfway mark, he surged past French champion Luca Martin (Cannondale Factory Racing) to take control of the race. Martin, who had stayed within 15 seconds of Pidcock, suffered a mechanical on lap 6 that cost him nearly a minute and dashed his hopes of victory.
Pidcock cruised through the final two laps and crossed the finish line in 1:20:30. Martin recovered brilliantly to finish second, 21 seconds behind, earning his first career World Cup podium just a day after winning the short-track race.
Cannondale Factory Racing’s Charlie Aldridge of Britain emerged from the chasing pack to take third, 52 seconds off the lead.
“It’s super nice to finally win here — kind of a home race — after a few years coming here. Not an easy place to race, that’s for sure. Racing at this height, it’s not like you can find more oxygen anywhere,” Pidcock — based for much of the year in the Principality — said afterwards, having equalled former Tour de France winner Cadel Evans’ MTB win record in World Cup.
The Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 gold medallist also credited a clean run for the win: “The lack of experience in the races this year certainly played in my favour — I didn’t puncture, I didn’t have any problems. I was most nervous about the start, obviously if I went backward from the fourth row, I would have been really far back!”
Pidcock added that he likely will not race any more MTB World Cups this year and will miss the discipline’s World Championships in Valais, Switzerland, due to a clash with the Vuelta a España in September.
Earlier in the women’s race, New Zealand’s Samara Maxwell (Decathlon Ford Racing) claimed victory ahead of Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon, +00:09), with Rio 2016 Olympic champion Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV) completing the podium a further six seconds behind.