Takelast week
Pidcock's world title isn't a claim to all-round superiority — it's an acknowledgement that the rivalry now splits cleanly by terrain. He's stronger on a mountain bike; Mathieu van der Poel is stronger on the road, and Pidcock said as much himself.
Pidcock crashed in practice on Friday and rode with back pain from lap one, yet still had to distance Charlie Aldridge and hold off riders who train year-round on XCO — with van der Poel on the same start row. Van der Poel finished 30th, 4:40 back, before walking away from the 2026 season with two Tour de France stage wins to show for his road form. Each has proven dominant in his chosen discipline; neither result says anything about the other's ground.
Sources
'Happy to have shown that I am stronger than Mathieu van der Poel on a mountain bike' – Tom Pidcock celebrates off-road world title but concedes multi-discipline rival's supremacy on itMTB World Championships: Tom Pidcock Powers to Incredible Victory, Van der Poel Out of the PictureTom Pidcock wins XCO Mountain Bike World Championships ahead of Charlie Aldridge in British one-two