From Val di Sole to Montreal with the same objective: to bring home the world champion's jersey. Tom Pidcock has achieved the first goal, becoming XCO world champion, and now he will try to do the same on the road, on a Canadian course that suits his characteristics well.

His return to road racing has been good, indeed excellent, with the victory at the GP di Larciano - added to the calendar at the last second - which confirmed that his legs are already in good shape. "After the Tour I had some strange sensations in general, it took me about 3 weeks to feel good again - Pidcock explained from the Delta Hotel in Québec City -. With some low-intensity training and a few exercises aimed at explosiveness for the MTB World Championships, I started to find myself again and then on the road the feeling improved too. At Larciano maybe there wasn't the highest level of competition, but winning is never trivial. After Val di Sole the team called me and asked if I wanted to race before Canada. I checked the flights and thought 'why not'. I'm counting on being able to enjoy this end of season".

Before the world championship race, he will therefore be engaged in the Grand Prix Cyclistes de Québec and Montreal, where he will naturally be one of the closely watched riders. "Québec is a very open race, we saw that last year, and in my opinion this time too there are many teams that might want to try with various riders from far back. It's a harder race to win. I've never done these races before so I'm happy to test myself in Montreal before the World Championships, it's definitely an advantage" the Pinarello Q36.5 rider explained further, who between the Montreal GP and the World Championships will move to Colorado (USA) to take advantage of a few more climbs.

Pogačar's withdrawal has revitalized everyone's hopes a bit: "With Tadej his team would have controlled the race from start to finish, now instead it's more open... and fun. Pogačar is harder to beat than anyone else, so it's natural that we all have one more chance. In any case it will be very strange not to see Tadej in the rainbow jersey next year".

For his part, Pidcock will be one of the closely watched riders and will also be able to count on a rather solid English National team - which will be announced in the coming hours. "We've been a bit halved by injuries, but in my opinion between Adam Yates, Oscar Onley and me we can hope to do well. You'll need instinct and legs, at the World Championships it's always like that, and on a course like this even more so".

Calm and relaxed, Tom can already consider himself satisfied with what he's done this year, even though there's room to make the season even more positive. "I haven't won at WorldTour level this year yet. The early part of the season was excellent, the middle part a bit less, the Tour was decent but nothing special. I hope to finish well. The Grand Tours aren't the thing I love most, but in a sense I have to do them anyway. At the Vuelta last year I had fun and all in all at the Tour this year too. But I'd like to come back more competitive".

After his Canadian trip, Pidcock will return to Italy, where Giro dell'Emilia, Tre Valli Varesine and Il Lombardia await him. The season will close, however, at the Tour of Guangxi, "because that week a team training camp is scheduled, but honestly I prefer to race, so off to China!".

Will there be room for some cyclocross? "No, for now I have no intention of returning. Last year I was undecided, but it's too big a commitment. Maybe if the discipline were to be included in the Winter Olympics program I could return". In that case, however, it would be discussed again in 2034, because for 2030 there's already certainty that it won't be there.