Superman Pidcock heads GB medal bonanza

Zoe Backstedt takes junior women’s title in commanding style, reports Vern Pitt

- Vern Pitt

Tom Pidcock rode into the history books on Sunday, becoming Britain’s first ever cyclo-cross world champion in the senior ranks and capping the most successful cross Worlds the nation has ever seen.

Just over 24 hours earlier Zoe Bäckstedt had soloed away and crushed the opposition to add a rainbow jersey on the dirt to the one she won on the road in September last year. In doing so she kicked off a weekend in which the GB team placed a rider in the top 10 of every event, including a podium for Nathan Smith in the junior men’s race.

Matt Ellis, British Cycling cyclo-cross coordinator, said: “This weekend is the biggest thing that’s ever happened in British cyclo-cross. We’ve won two jerseys in a weekend before but to win the elite male race brings such a big spotlight. Everyone’s telling me how they’ve watched it on the BBC red button or Eurosport, there’s so many messages coming from people all over. My friends that aren’t into cycling at all are messaging me. It has reached everybody.”

The weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas, reached its climax in the men’s elite race. Prior to the event Pidcock had said the Belgian team’s numbers – the nation had eight riders in the race including top contenders Eli Iserbyt and Toon Aerts – could prove difficult to overcome on a hard-packed, fast course. But his legs proved up to the task, neutralising their numerical advantage with his superior skill and form.