Tom Pidcock battles to third Nove Mesto XCO victory

Tom Pidcock already had two elite World Cup wins in Nove Mesto coming into this weekend, plus another two under-23 XCO victories and a breezy short track win on Friday. That made him the clear favourite but it did not make his race any easier. Ineos Grenadiers’ superstar was challenged right up to the finish line by a dogged Joshua Dubau.

While lesser known in the elite men’s field, and nowhere near the stature Tom Pidcock, the young French rider raced with confidence, even putting the Ineos star on the backfoot at several points in the race.

Canadians in Nove Mesto

Gunnar Holmgren (Pivot Cycles-OTE) led the Canadian effort in Nove Mesto’s elite races, placing 28th in the men’s XCO. Sean Fincham followed 10 seconds and two places behind, finishing 30th in his first World Cup appearance for the new Berria Vittoria Factory Team. Leandré Bouchard (Forresco Holdings ProCo RL Pro Team) followed four seconds later in 32nd.

Peter Disera finished 52nd for Pivot Cycles-OTE, with his brother Quinton Disera in 71st. Tyler Orschel (ZeroUno) was 77th, Raphael Auclair (Pivot Cycles-OTE) 81st and Victor Verreault (Forresco Holdings ProCo RL Pro Team) 87th.

2023 elite men’s Nove Mesto World Cup

As he did in Friday’s short track XCC World Cup, Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV) put himself on the front off the start.

Sam Gaze (Alpecin-Fenix) takes up second with Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) in line behind them. Titouan Carod (Team BMC) slotted into fourth.

Heavy rain that started just before the men’s race would cause chaos all day. Gaze is the first of the favourites to be caught out and bobbles on a wet root and has an awkward uphill crash, holding up everyone but Schurter. Joshua Dubau (RockRider Racing) quickly joins the world champ as they try chase down the big German out front.

Pidcock, Fluckiger and Gaze quickly rejoin the front group and the field comes together starting the first full lap.

Pidcock doesn’t wait around, attacking Schwarzbauer and the front group on a steep climb. The Ineos rider has the German unintentionally blocking for him. A bobble from Schwarzbauer on a now rain-slicked rocky climb causes cascading chaos. Flueckiger puts a foot down and Schurter falls to the side as the racers, with nowhere to go around, ride into the backs of each other.

Dubau gets by clean and quickly passes Schwarzbauer to chase a rapidly disappearing Pidcock.

Dubau vs goliath

Pidcock repeatedly gaps Dubau over the next several laps but the young French rider repeatedly and stubbornly continues to chase back to Ineos’ superstar’s wheel. On descents, on climbs, Rockrider’s new talent refused to let Pidcock ride away to an easy win. When Pidcock bobbled on the tricky rocky climb, a frustrated look over the shoulder confirmed that Dubau had, again, returned to the front.

Behind, Schurter leads the chase with only former world champion Jordan Sarrou (BMC) able to follow.

On lap 5, Pidcock crashes on an unassuming section of the descent, his front wheel sliding on a root and jackknifing the bike. Dubau had left just enough space to cleanly ride by the Brit and into the lead.

Starting the sixth lap, Dubau has 13 seconds advantage on Pidcock. Schurter and Sarrou are 23 seconds back.

With three full laps remaining, Pidcock settles in for a steady chase. It takes more than a full lap but, as the two start the seventh and penultimate lap, Pidcock completes the catch.

While the two are back together it is still, unexpectedly, Dubau on the offensive and Pidcock still on his back foot. The Brit slips again and is forced back to chasing. The gap is closed again quickly, but doubts creep in with every unforced error. Could Dubau actually pull off a monumental upset?

Pidcock finally attacks on the final lap. Dubau follows, Pidcock looks back and goes again, but to no avail. He’s earned the lead, but little more. That pattern repeats up every one of the many climbs in Nove Mesto. Dubau finally cracks on the last section of the last climb. Having finally earned a little breathing room, Pidcock throws in a couple of whips on his way down to the finish area but is still in full business mode as he stands and sprints towards the line.

Tom Pidcock enters the finish straight and, after a few very long looks over his shoulder to make sure Dubau hadn’t caught back up a final time, celebrates his win. It’s Pidcock’s third elite men’s World Cup win in Nove Mesto, and surely one of the more challenging ones.

“Today was a hard race honestly,” a tired Pidcock admits in the finish area. “The conditions were super tricky. I think my tires were a bit hard, I was struggling a bit on the roots. But yeah, it’s nice to win in the end.”

Joshua Dubau takes second, his career-best World Cup result.

Nino Schurter outsprints Jordan Sarrou for third. Thomas Girot (Canyon Cllctv) takes the final podium spot in fifth.