Tom Pidcock prevails in tight battle with Dubau in Nove Mesto World Cup

European MTB champion Tom Pidcock (Ineos) won the elite men’s cross country race at the Nove Mesto World Cup, beating Joshua Dubau (Rockrider Ford Racing Team) after a long game of cat-and-mouse with the Frenchman on the technical circuit in Czechia.

"Today was a hard race honestly, the conditions were super tricky. We haven’t ridden it all in the rain - short track, you know but there are no rests in this race," the Ineos rider said after the race finish.

"It was a bit tricky, my tyres were a bit hard and I was struggling a bit on the roots. But it was nice to win in the end.

"I think when that happens, it’s important just to take take a minute and reset, like I had a dead leg. I just kind of came to the pits, got a bottle, had a drink and got a gel and focussed on trying to get back to the front. I didn't do any whips all race so I needed to do some at the finish. At least I didn’t crash."

Pidcock suffered a crash on the fifth of eight laps, pushing him well behind race leader Joshua Dubau after a first half of the race in which the two exchanged blows throughout. The Briton battled back, though, and found himself back in the company of the Frenchman on the penultimate lap.

Dubau appeared the stronger of the two on the final lap, distancing Pidcock on the more technical sections before the Ineos rider managed to find his way back to the Frenchman - who was unable to break the elastic.

Pidcock made his major attack on the penultimate climb of the course, taking first position, but was unable to drop Dubau. An attack on the final climb, though, gave Pidcock his critical gap from which he was able to ride to the finish solo.

Dubau, clearly exhausted from the chase, sat up and allowed Pidcock to cruise into the finish with a margin of four seconds and ample celebration.

While the duo fought for the win up front, Swiss rider Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) was holding third place in a group containing Thomas Griot (Canyon CLLCTV) and Jordan Sarrou (Team BMC).

Schurter and Sarrou took the battle for the last podium spot right to the line - where Schurter won the sprint for third place.

Results powered by FirstCycling

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Peter Stuart
Editor

Peter Stuart has been editor of Cyclingnews since March 2022, overseeing editorial output across all of Cyclingnews' digital touchpoints.


Before joining Cyclingnews, Peter was the digital editor of Rouleur magazine. Starting life as a freelance feature writer, with bylines in The Times and The Telegraph, he first entered cycling journalism in 2012, joining Cyclist magazine as staff writer. Peter has a background as an international rower, representing Great Britain at Under-23 level and at the Junior Rowing World Championships.

Latest on Cyclingnews