Great Britain’s double Olympic champion Tom Pidcock won his second men’s cross-country world title after a spectacular performance in Val di Sole, Italy on Sunday (30 August).
Pidcock surged to victory at the 2026 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in one hour, 25 minutes and 26 seconds, marking his achievement by proudly lifting his bike over his head.
It was a Great Britain one-two, with Charlie Aldridge taking the silver medal after holding off a late challenge from Canada’s Cole Punchard, who bagged bronze.
Dutch superstar Mathieu van der Poel, who was chasing the one rainbow jersey missing from his collection, could only finish 30th.
Tom Pidcock dedicates win to Finlay Tarling
Speaking shortly after adding to his 2023 Glasgow title, an emotional Pidcock dedicated his victory to fellow British rider Finlay Tarling, who died earlier this month aged 19 in a serious accident during the Volta a Portugal 2026.
Finlay, the younger brother of Olympian Josh Tarling, was killed in the accident which involved a car driving on the wrong side of the road.
“It was a hard road after the Tour de France to be honest,” said Pidcock said.
“I want to dedicate this win to Fin Tarling and to Josh Tarling – seeing him (Josh) start the Vuelta (a España) was pretty incredible, so I want to dedicate it to him and his family.”
Due to his lack of mountain bike races this season, Pidcock had to start from the fifth row, but he gradually made his way through the field, before taking control of the race in the second half.
Reflecting on his performance, the Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020 men’s cross-country gold medallist added: “I crashed pretty badly in practice on Friday and my back was hurting from the first lap.
“The last two laps I just had to push and stretch that gap before a final sprint. That was a pretty hard race.”
In the women’s race, Switzerland’s Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Sina Frei cruised to victory in a time of 1:27:50.
Martina Berta of Italy claimed the silver medal, while Switzerland’s Nicole Koller took the bronze.
