Pidcock not expecting an explosive World Championship upset by Van der Poel and co: 'Incredibly tough war of attrition'

According to Pidcock, last Sunday’s Montreal Grand Prix was a good preview of the World Championships. At 214.4 kilometers, the race was nearly 60 kilometers shorter than the one on Sunday, September 27. And on Sunday, Pidcock had already described the opening phase as “one that seemed to last for hours.”

At the World Championships, the Brit will therefore have to hide his moves even better and not fire his shots too early. In the Montreal GP, he tried to attack early on, but he realized: "On this course, you really need to have the legs for the last two laps."

Isaac del Toro won and Paul Seixas finished second, with Pidcock coming in sixth and thus proving, after a fourth-place finish at the GP Québec, that he is in contention for a medal at the World Championships. “It’s a good course for me; I’ve done well here before. But I’m not the top favourite.”

If Pidcock doesn’t even count himself among the top favourites, where does that leave riders like Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert? They’ll be among the best, but even so, Pidcock warns about the race in Montreal. “It’s going to be an incredibly tough, grueling race,” he told Cycling Weekly.

"Now that the race is even longer, a small group might break away at the front. Riders won't be able to make a difference just by being explosive. As Great Britain, we're going to go for it, and the more riders we have in the final, the better our chances of becoming world champions."

That’s exactly the scenario that’s suddenly becoming a realistic possibility, now that Pogačar isn’t competing and there won’t normally be a single superstar riding for the win. “Although I don’t think this suddenly makes it the best chance ever to become world champion. You don’t have to be the strongest to win now; you used to have to be.”

"Tadej is the hardest rider to beat, and he's not here. That means the second-best rider is easier to beat," said Pidcock, who named Del Toro and Seixas as the favorites.