Pidcock Picks Up Where He Left Off with Dominant World Cup Albstadt Win
The Olympic Champ won his season-opener and revealed his off-road goals for 2022
The legend of Tom Pidcock, mountain biker, was technically born at Nove Mesto in 2021 when he uttered the now-famous quote, “I was born to do mountain bike.” However, one need look no further than the previous week at Albstadt last May when Pidcock passed like a million dudes in moving up from near the back to an eventual 5th-place finish.
For cyclocross folks, the speed with which Pidcock passed the field and made the front of that race was not a surprise, but the discipline is what it is, and you have to then beat the entire field by over a minute the next week to gain that mainstream cred.
On Sunday, Pidcock returned to the scene of his first act as an Elite mountain biker at World Cup Albstadt. With the news that Mathieu van der Poel is taking the year off of mountain biking, Pidcock would not have to contend with the other mountain bike ringer, but he would still run up against a rejuvenated Nino Schurter coming off his record-tying 33rd World Cup win and the rest of the field that has not been racing Spring Classics thus far this season.
The weekend started with 2016 and 2017 U23 World Champion Sam Gaze winning the Short Track race on Friday. Then on Sunday, it was time for Schurter to chase a record-setting 34th World Cup win, for Pidcock to do what he was born to do, or for another rider to grab an early-season World Cup win to gain some of the ever-elusive confidence heading into the summer.
2.5 Laps of Fireworks
Last month in Brazil, the fans came out for hometown and home country hero Henrique Avancini and rewarded him with deafening cheers throughout the weekend. Luca Schwarzbauer of Germany was clearly taking notes. Schwarzbauer took the holeshot and then stayed on the front for the first several minutes of the race, soaking in the cheers of his home-country fans.
When his exuberance finally played its course, Schurter took over lead duties on the second short climb of the prologue lap. He pushed the pace, but the end result was a string of 15 riders heading out for the first of six proper laps.
Last season during the World Cups, we saw Schurter push the pace early in races, only to usually not have the oomph to make things work in his favor. At Petropolis and again on Sunday at Albstadt, Schurter was on the move and this year it seems like he has an extra gear to really put the hurt on his competitors.
Schurter most of the way up the first long climb of Lap 1 before his old nemesis Avancini decided to make an attack near the top of the climb to take over the lead. The two had a short-lived battle for position before Schurter unleashed some of his trademark bike craft.
The top of the first descent featured an A-Line, B-Line section with the A-Line taking a series of turns on a wooden structure and the B-Line weaving through a series of tight, rocky, dirt turns. Schurter took the B-Line, because of course he did, and came out of the section flying past Avancini and most of the other riders on the A-Line. Schurter stayed on the move after his nifty move and bombed the descent, because of course he did.
The one rider to stick his wheel was Romania’s Vlad Dascalu. The two kept pushing the pace and in the valley between the two climbs, the two had a 7-second gap on the rest of the strung-out lead group.
Schurter and Dascalu got off the front and went deep into the bell lap in Petropolis, so there may have been alarm bells going off in the nine-rider chase that remained. However, in the case of Tom Pidcock, it appeared he was just kind of tired of sitting being the other riders.
At the base of the second climb, Pidcock accelerated around Avancini and started his effort to join the two leaders. Next up after Pidcock was Mathias Fluckiger, and by the time they reached the top, the two had bridged. The final rider to jump across was Frenchman Titouan Carod, making it a lead group of 5.
The lead selection was Schurter, Pidcock, Dascalu, Fluckiger, and Carod after the first lap. A chase led by Alan Hatherly was 7 seconds behind.
The chase group of five had enough riders to close the gap and before long, the lead selection swelled to 10. Alan Hatherly led the first part of the climb before Fluckiger jumped into action with a move reminiscent of how he rode nearly all of last season.
At the Dual Climb section that played a decisive role in the Elite Women’s race, Fluckiger took the steep, high line and attacked past Hatherly, who had gone low. The section is located partway up the first climb and thus Fluckiger had plenty of real estate to keep making a move to the top of the mountain.
His effort was one of those that forces the other riders to react or get left behind, and at the top of the climb, the riders left in the boat were Hatherly, Schurter, and Pidcock, along with Fluckiger. Dascalu tried to bridge from 5th, but he broke his saddle at the top of the descent, bringing back memories of Fluckiger’s busted dropper post at Albstadt one year ago.
When the dust from the blistering first two laps settled, the lead selection of Schurter, Fluckiger, Pidcock, and Hatherly had a 9-second lead on Carod. 2020 World Champion Jordan Sarrou was a few seconds further back, chasing 14. Dascalu got his saddle sitch sorted out relatively quickly and was 38 seconds behind.
Born to Mountain Bike
With the exception of his little bridge in Lap 1, Pidcock hadn’t really done much of any work in the first two laps. That changed in Lap 3.
Pidcock went to the front at the start of the first climb and started to up the pace. Schurter sat on his wheel, and Fluckiger did his best to follow suit. This went on for a spell before the two reached the Dual Climb; then Pidcock revved his engine a little bit more. Or maybe a lotta bit more.
The pass through the Dual Climb was not quite as dramatic as the Elite Women’s race, with both Pidcock and Schurter taking the low line, but Pidcock started to really turn on the afterburners on the exit from the section. With plenty of climb left to go to the top of the mountain, he stayed committed to the move. Schurter did his best to stick the Brit’s wheel, but hey, some of us are just born to do certain things, IDK.
“They went off super hard in the first two laps. It was really hard, but then we were going really easy, which was kind of keeping it together,” Pidcock said. “I just thought I would test the water a little bit and see where everyone was really at. I got a gap and was like, ‘Okay then.’”
Pidcock’s lead was an impressive 10 seconds at the top of the climb. Schurter and Fluckiger were together, with Hatherly another 6 seconds behind them. At the end of the lap, the advantage was up to 20 seconds. Schurter, Fluckiger, Carod, and Hatherly were all together chasing for 2nd with 3 laps to go.
Much like Loana Lecomte, 2021 vintage, the Elite Men’s race was over. Pidcock went on to extend his lead to as much as 48 seconds in Lap 5 before winning by perhaps the most deceptive 20-second margin in recent memory.
After his win, Pidcock revealed his tentative goals for the mountain biking season: “I want to win the world title. Maybe the Euros as well. If I do achieve that, then I’ve done quite a bit in mountain bike, I’d say.”
The chase for 2nd was a banger, however. In Lap 4, Fluckiger’s run of bad luck at Albstadt continued as he flatted on the second descent and had to ride a pretty good distance to the pit on a deflated rear tire. He was then obviously out of the running for a podium spot.
While Flucki was out, Vlad Dascalu was getting back in the game in Lap 5. His seat mechanical set him back, but at the start of the second climb he was within 6 seconds of the Schurter-Carod-Hatherly trio. Carod put his nose to the wind at the end of the lap, attacking off the descent, but Schurter stuck his wheel. With one to go, Carod and Schurter had 8 seconds on Hatherly and Dascalu. In theory, all four riders had good podium chances.
The first of the four to pop in the bell lap was Hatherly. He spent most of the first climb of the bell lap dangling off the back before getting properly dropped at the top. He fell back to a chase with Spanish rider David Valero, who was calmly making his way forward.
Even though Schurter wasn’t going to get his record-setting 34th World Cup win, he still played the second half of the bell lap like he was trying to win. He went to the front and pushed as hard as he could up the second climb. Dascalu joined his wheel, while Carod fell off the pace.
Schurter and Dascalu came off the mountain together and raced through the final corners, looking to be the first onto the tarmac. Schurter won the mini-race and came away with a 2nd-place finish. Dascalu took home 3rd for the second time in two races. Carod took 4th and Valero capped an impressive ride in 5th.
Full results are below. Nove Mesto is up this weekend.
Postscript: We also had a t-shirt sighting in the race, with New Zealander Sam Shaw keeping it casual down in 104th place. No word on what the UCI had to say about this issue.
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