Tom Pidcock's (Ineos Grenadiers) program in cyclocross for next season is set, with the young British star making his debut next weekend and building form for the World Championships in the US at the end of January.

Pidcock turned road pro with Ineos Grenadiers last winter after a breakthrough campaign in the elite cyclo-cross field, winning at Brabantse Pijl and belting out his first Grand Tour with Vuelta a España, He made an even more immediate impact.

Meanwhile, he won gold in mountain biking at the Tokyo Olympics. His cyclo-cross season will therefore be combined with the Ineos Grenadiers training camp in Spain in January.

After finishing the 2021 season with an impressive 6th place in the World Championships road race in Belgium, Pidcock enjoyed a rest period in his home base of Andorra, but will be in Northern Europe next week on December 4 to participate in the Boom round of the Super Prestige Series. He will arrive in Scandinavia to participate in the Super Prestige Series Boom Round on December 4.

He will then compete in 10 races in just under a month, including six World Cup Series rounds, before moving to Spain for a 10-day training camp with his Ineos teammates.

He will return to cyclocross the weekend before the World Championships, racing back-to-back Hamme rounds of the X2O Trofee and the Hoogerheide World Cup before flying to the US for the World Championships in Fayetteville on January 30. [Pidcock coach Kurt Bogaerts told Het Laatste Nieuws (opens in new tab).

"Fayetteville is an opportunity course for Tom. If he does travel to the U.S., it will not be just to participate. His ultimate goal is to be world champion in all three events."

Pidcock will make his season debut next weekend in Boom. There he will face cross and road rivals Wout Van Aert, as well as Eli Iserbyt and Lars Van Der Haar, whose campaigns have already begun.

However, Bogerts does not expect Pidcock to be competitive from the start.

"He will start with zero cyclocross preparation and boom, in basic conditions. I don't expect much because of the long break, but he is very excited," Bogaerts said.

"I'll keep racing because it's good for him. But it's impossible to be on top all the time. The road season is becoming more and more important. If there is a Grand Tour in it, he will be robbing his body with special preparation for the crosses."

"I'm very excited about it," Bogaerts said.

This week La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that Pidcock could compete in the Giro d'Italia in May and that Richard Kalapas is expected to lead the British team; he won the U23 edition of the Giro and has a long-term shot at winning a Grand Tour Pidcock, who is also eyeing the spring classics.

This year he was not at his best in the main cobbled classics, finishing 3rd in Coure Brussel-Coulomb, 5th in Strade Bianche, and 15th in Milan-San Remo, but he won Brabantspaille, 2nd in the Amstel Gold Race, and 6th in La Fleche Wallonne and 6th in La Flèche Wallonne.

Last year he competed in the Cross Worlds before making his road debut at the Tour du Var in late February, and he may take a similar approach this time around.