Britain’s Tom Pidcock spends most of his professional cycling life these days on his road bike but when he does venture off of the tarmac and grabs his mountain bike he is unstoppable. The 24-year-old Yorkshireman, whose day job is with Ineos Grenadiers, has been described as a generational talent on two wheels and looks destined to win a Grand Tour before long. Few who witnessed his Bastille Day victory on Alpe d’Huez in the 2022 Tour de France will forget his jaw-dropping bike-handling skills as he descended Col du Galibier like lightning. He also won the Strade Bianche in 2023 — a race with large gravel sections which are meat and drink to Pidcock whose junior days were spent on the cyclo-cross circuit. While road racing is often tactically complicated, a mountain bike race lets Pidcock’s passion off the leash.