Tom Pidcock Targets Historic Double at UCI Road World Championships
Sports Correspondent: Imran Sohail
British cycling star Tom Pidcock will aim to make history at the UCI Road World Championships in Montreal on Sunday, September 27, as he bids to hold world titles in both mountain bike cross-country and road cycling at the same time.
Pidcock recently won the men’s cross-country mountain bike world title in Italy, adding another major achievement to his already successful career.
The 27-year-old now has an opportunity to become the first male cyclist to simultaneously hold world championships titles in mountain bike cross-country and road cycling.
“Becoming road world champion would be something that would be truly amazing in my career,” Pidcock said during a media roundtable on Tuesday.
At the same time, he acknowledged the difficulty of winning the road race, with a strong field expected to compete in Montreal.
Pidcock Sees Strong Opportunity
Two-time defending road race world champion Tadej Pogačar will not compete in Montreal after crashing during the 2026 Vuelta a España.
Pidcock said Pogačar’s absence gives him his strongest opportunity so far to challenge for the road world title, although he remains cautious about his chances because of the depth of the field.
“I think this is my best opportunity so far in my career,” Pidcock said while training in Boulder, Colorado, before travelling to Montreal.
The British rider added that the competition remained wide open and that he would still have to perform at his best to finish on the podium.
Pidcock’s Record in Mountain Biking
Pidcock is already a two-time world champion in mountain bike cross-country, having previously won the world title in Glasgow in 2023.
He is also the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, winning gold at Tokyo 2020, held in 2021, before successfully defending his title at Paris 2024.
His latest mountain bike world title has placed him in contention for a rare achievement across two cycling disciplines.
France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prévot is the only cyclist previously known to have won both the mountain bike cross-country and road world titles in the same year, achieving the feat in 2015.
Pidcock will now look to add the road cycling rainbow jersey to his collection when the men’s road race takes place in Montreal on September 27.
