Double Olympic cross-country mountain bike champion Tom Pidcock made a victorious return to the UCI Cross-Country Mountain Bike World Cup with a dominant ride through the field in his first XCO appearance of 2025 at Round 6 of the series in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.
After recently finishing the Giro d’Italia grand tour on the road, the 25-year-old multi-discipline rider made a late decision to line up for his first cross-country race since the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at the same venue, where he claimed the bronze medal.
Ineligible to compete in Friday’s XCC short-track race, which was won for the first time by France’s Luca Martin, the British rider started from the fourth row of the grid for Sunday’s main XCO race.
Pidcock made quick work of riding his way into contention for the win. Setting a blistering pace on the climbs in particular, within two laps the Q36.5 team leader had worked his way up to the lead group and passed into second place behind race leader Luca Martin.
He made his move for the lead on lap four of eight, but Martin, the 2024 U23 UCI XCO World Champion, fought hard and made sure Pidcock couldn’t relax until he suffered a rear wheel puncture on lap six that allowed the Brit to open up a clear advantage.
Pidcock rode home victorious over Martin by a margin of 21s, while Martin’s Cannondale Factory Racing team-mate Charlie Aldridge crossed the line in third place, 52s behind Pidcock to make it two Brit’s on a UCI Cross Country World cup podium for the first time since 1994.
Despite finishing down the order in 29th, American Christopher Blevins continues to lead the overall XCO World Cup standings with 1395 points ahead of Chile’s Martín Vidaurre on 1082.
In the Elite Women’s field, Britain’s Evie Richards made a return to racing after missing the previous round in Italy and immediately rode back on to the XCC short-track podium on Friday, where she finished second behind Switzerland’s Alessandra Keller in the final sprint.
In Sunday’s XCO race however, it was current overall World Cup points leader Samara Maxwell who powered to victory over Keller and Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds in a rollercoaster race.
The early race leader, Maxwell then had to fight back from a rear wheel puncture and two crashes before riding past her rivals and into lead on the last of seven laps to claim a very impressive win over Keller by just 9s, while Rissveds completed the podium another 6s behind Keller.
Maxwell now holds a sizeable advantage at the top of the overall XCO World Cup standings on 1535 points ahead of Nicole Koller of Switzerland (1090) and Rissveds (980), while Richards maintains her XCC overall lead from Keller.
Image courtesy of UCI Mountain Bike Series & Words – Red Bull
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