Tom Pidcock beats Van der Poel to win the 2021 Nove Mesto XCO World Cup

We knew that Tom Pidcock and Van der Poel were going to be the protagonists of this season and in this World Cup in Nove Mesto they have confirmed it. Tom Pidcock took the victory in the elite category after a spectacular attack with which he proved that his level is far above the rest.

Tom Pidcock wins 2021 Nove Mesto World Cup

With all eyes on Mathieu Van der Poel and Tom Pidcock, the 2021 Nove Mesto XCO World Cup began. Right from the start, the Dutchman took the lead and started to tighten the group until he managed to open up a few seconds on the first uphill with Nino Schurter. The whole race was still ahead of him.

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The course was much drier than in the women's race and this made it possible to ride faster even in the technical uphill and downhill sections.

The first lap started with Van der Poel, Schurter and Thomas Fluckiger in the lead, 8 seconds ahead of Tom Pidcock and 15 seconds ahead of the rest.

Halfway through lap 1, during one of the technical uphill sections of the circuit, Van der Poel upped the pace again and managed to pull away from the lead, encouraging Pidcock to drop out of the group as well and make contact with the Dutchman.

The Van der Poel vs Pidcock duel was on again and we were only on the first of six laps.

On lap 2, Pidcock and Van der Poel were leading with authority and behind, 20 seconds behind, Fluckiger, Ondrej Cink and Nino Schurter were fighting to maintain the gap.

Only Mathias Fluckiger was able to gain seconds and get closer to the leading pair formed by Pidcock and Van der Poel, but behind it was strange to see Nino Schurter or the World Champion, Jordan Sarrou, almost 1 minute behind the first ones.

But if we thought that Pidcock and Van der Poel were on the same level, we were wrong. The British rider launched a spectacular attack on lap 3, taking more than half a minute off the Dutchman in less than a quarter of a lap. Unbelievable.

After that overtake, Van der Poel seemed to relax too much until Fluckiger made contact with him. Second and third were in play while in front Pidcock went straight to victory with 2 laps to go, even allowing himself the luxury of stopping pedalling on the finishing straight to recover.

Behind, Schurter was still a long way back, but a fall also dropped him to seventh place, 2:28 minutes behind.

With Pidcock at an unreachable level, the action in the final laps was between Fluckiger and Van der Poel. Both attacked and responded countless times but neither would let go. 

British rider Tom Pidcock of the Ineos Grenadier team won the 2021 Nove Mesto XCO World Cup. His first victory in the elite category at the age of 21. We are running out of words to describe this exceptional rider.

Mathieu Van der Poel was second thanks to a last attack. Mathias Fluckiger closed the podium.

The best Spanish rider was David Valero, who after riding close to 10th place suffered a mechanical problem, but still managed to recover to finish 15th.

Results Men 2021 Nove Mesto XCO World Cup

1. Tom Pidcock
2. Mathieu Van der Poel
3. Mathias Fluckiger
4. Ondrej Cink
5. Jordan Sarrou
6. Alan Hatherly
7. Nino Schurter
8. Anton Cooper
9. Titouan Carod
10. Thomas Griot