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Fincham fifth under-23 cross country world championships

Tom Pidcock scores second world championship title in three days in Austria

2020 UCI mountain bike world championships Leogang Austria Pidcock Photo by: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Tom Pidock extended his incredible winning streak with a win in Friday’s under-23 men’s cross country race. The young Brit, signed to race for Ineos on the road in 2021, landed his second world championship title in three days.

Sean Fincham led the results for Canada, finishing incredibly close to the podium in fifth.

U23 under-23 men's XCO 2019 UCI mountain bike world championships Mont-Sainte-Anne
Sean Fincham racing 2019 world championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Photograph by Nick Iwanyshyn

Great day for Canadian riders

After two top-10 results in last week’s World Cups, Sean Fincham again led the Canadian squad with a top-5 result at world championships Friday. With treacherous mud quickly spreading riders out on course and causing big time gaps at the finish, Fincham was just 41 seconds away from a podium placing in his final race as a U23.

Fincham wasn’t the only one on form in Austria, though. All five Canadians finished in the top-25 on Friday.

RELATED: How to watch 2020 UCI mountain bike world championships in Canada

Carter Woods, in his first year of under-23, placed an impressive 15th. Close behind the young Cumberland rider, a trio of Canucks crossed the line within a minute of each other. Gunnar Holmgren finished 20th, Quinton Disera 22nd and Tyler Orschel 23rd.

The under-23 women race before the elite’s on Saturday. Marianne Théberge is the lone Canadian in the field. While mud makes racing unpredictable, Théberge had an excellent top-1o finish in inclimate weather at Nove Mesto World Cup #1 last week.

Elite cross country racing takes place on Saturday as well. Canadian’s can tune in live on FloBikes.

2020 UCI mountain bike world championships Leogang Austria Pidcock
Thomas Pidcock celebrates his second world championship title in three days. Photo: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Pidcock’s wild two-week winning streak

Friday belonged to one rider, though. Tom Pidcock stormed away early on with the U.S.A.’s Christopher Blevins. It wasn’t long before Pidcock was alone, though, and the Brit soloed off the front to win the under-23 men’s XCO world championships.

The win is Pidcock’s second in three days. On Wednesday, he won the second-ever eMTB cross country world championships. The epically muddy race saw him battling with elite World Cup winner Simon Andreassen.

In addition, Pidcock won two under-23 World Cup’s last week in Nove Mesto. Those also happened to be the young phenom’s first mountain bike World Cup appearances. A week before that, Pidcock finished 42nd in the elite road world championships. That’s five incredibly strong results for Pidcock, added to his silver medal in the elite cyclocross world championships early in 2020.

2020 UCI mountain bike world championships Leogang Austria Pidcock
If you can ride this, you can ride anything. Pidcock says mountain biking provides key skills for any young rider. Photo: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

For Pidcock, crossing between disciplines is no big deal. “It’s not difficult to ride the different bikes. If you the skills to run a mountain bike, you can do anything else,” he said in his post-race interview, adding, “I think that’s important, for young riders to ride off-road.”

While Pidcock’s signed to powerhouse road team Ineos for 2021, he’s not limiting himself to the road. Much like Mathieu van der Poel, he’ll continue mixing disciplines. Pidcock’s said there’s already off-road appearances penciled into his calendar for next year. With the Olympics still scheduled to take place in Tokyo, the young rider might have his eyes on a spot in the XCO race in Japan.

2020 UCI mountain bike world championships Leogang Austria Pidcock
Thomas Pidcock sending sketch drops against a stunning backdrop in the Austrian Alps. Photo: Bartek Wolinski/Red Bull Content Pool

Results: Under 23 Men’s XCO – 2020 UCI mountain bike world championships

1 PIDCOCK Thomas GBR 1:08:15
2 BLEVINS Christopher USA +1:52
3 ROTH Joel SUI +3:05
4 AVONDETTO Simone ITA +3:21
5 FINCHAM Sean CAN +3:46
6 VIDAURRE KOSSMANN Martin CHI +3:50
7 ALBIN Vital SUI +4:58
8 FONTANA Filippo ITA +5:05
9 ALLARD Basile FRA +5:21
10 ZANOTTI Juri ITA +5:27
11 PUNTENER Fabio SUI +5:48
12 LIST David GER +5:53
13 SCHATTI Luca SUI +6:29
14 BASTOS GALINSKI Ulan BRA +6:37
15 WOODS Carter CAN +6:53
16 MOISEIEV Hennadii UKR +7:40
17 CHENEVAL Loan FRA +7:40
18 ALDRIDGE Charlie GBR +7:59
19 VITTONE Andreas Emanuele ITA +8:04
20 HOLMGREN Gunnar CAN +8:14
21 AZZARO Mathis FRA +8:22
22 DISERA Quinton CAN +8:26
23 ORSCHEL Tyler CAN +8:35
24 KAISER Leon Reinhard GER +9:05
25 BALMER Alexandre SUI +9:12