Pidcock Wins Nové Město Race as Tour De France Prep Continues

Tom Pidcock won the cross-country race at the Mountain Bike World Series in Nové Město as he resumed tour de france preparation. The British rider had not raced since finishing second at Eschborn Frankfurt on May 2, then returned to the dirt and took control again in Czechia.

Pidcock Opens Fast In Nové Město

He hit the front on the first of eight laps and then had to recover after losing the lead on the next lap. Pidcock answered quickly, regained the advantage and stayed there long enough to beat French champion Luca Martin by 18 seconds.

The win came after a road season that already included victories at Milano-Torino and stage wins at the Vuelta Andalucia and Tour of the Alps. In March, he finished second behind Tadej Pogačar at Milan-San Remo, adding another marker to a season split between road racing and mountain bike work.

Nové Město Weekend Split

Sunday’s XCO win followed a second-place finish in the short course race in Nové Město on Saturday, where Pidcock attacked hard on the closing lap but was pipped at the post by Mathis Azzaro. That swing from second to first across the weekend gave him the result he was chasing on the longer course.

The move back to mountain bike racing also fit around a disrupted build-up. A knee injury sustained in a crash at the Volta Ciclista a Cayalunya interrupted his preparation for July’s Tour de France, and this return offered a clear step back toward that goal after the pause since May 2.

Tour De France Build-Up

Pidcock is slated to return to the road at the Tour de Suisse in the middle of June, where the five-day race includes three lumpy stages, a flat individual time trial and a mountain stage. The final stage starts and finishes in Villars-sur-Ollon and covers 151km, giving him another road test before July.

For now, Nové Město gave him the response he needed: a win on Sunday, a second on Saturday and a clean return to racing after more than a month away. The result leaves his tour de france buildup on schedule and gives him another benchmark before he shifts back to the road.