Tom Pidcock has had dental surgery and is enjoying a break from a busy racing schedule that includes winter cyclocross, the Cape Epic mountain bike race in March, two mountain bike World Cup races, and possibly the Under-23 Giro d'Italia in summer 2020! He enjoys.

The Yorkshire rider, according to his Trinity Racing directeur sportif, Kurt Bogarts, will then decide on a career in road racing, either riding as a stadia rider for a World Tour team or quietly preparing for another winter of cyclocross Preparation.

Pidcock crashed hard on a wet descent at the 2019 Tour de Lavenir, landing on his face and severely damaging several teeth. He recovered to win a bronze medal in the under-23 world championship road race in Yorkshire and has been working on a full cyclo-cross season ever since. However, inflammation forced him to have dental work done before heading to Spain for a rest and a warm-weather training camp in Girona.

"At the time, three of my teeth were badly damaged," Bogarts said in an interview with the Dutch Wielerflits website about Pidcock's season and his long-term plans. (Open in new tab)

"He was supposed to have them fixed after the cyclocross season, but two weeks ago, an X-ray showed signs of inflammation. So we thought it would be better for him to get the treatment done quickly."

"He was supposed to have surgery after the cyclocross season."

"He was supposed to have surgery after the cyclocross season."

"He will start five days of antibiotics and spend a short vacation in the Catalan capital. On Thursday, he will spend eight days camping in Girona. He will then return to Belgium to compete in the Essen and Sonnenhofen races. He will spend Christmas with his family in England, then return to Belgium to race in Bredene, Diegem, and Baar.

The 20-year-old Pidcock is currently the under-23 cyclocross world champion, but has chosen to race at the elite level, taking on elite world champions Mathieu van der Poel and Eli Iserbyt. He has had a mixed fate, including crashes and a hard racing program.

"I can't say I'm not disappointed. I knew that stepping up to elite was going to be hard, and I knew it wasn't going to be an easy choice. But there is nothing more you can achieve in the U23s. I asked for a challenge, and I can't complain. Now it's time to get back to the hard work and aim for the podium," Pidcock wrote on Instagram after finishing eighth at the European Cyclocross Championships.

Bogaerts suggested that Pidcock is still learning to stay mentally strong when faced with setbacks.

"Tom still has to learn to lose. That's his biggest challenge this season. And our biggest goal is to make him mentally strong. To lose, he didn't know when he was younger," Bogarts said.

"At the European Championships, he got a flat tire on the opening lap and immediately put his head down. A week later in Tabor, we saw almost the same scenario. Like Mathieu van der Pol, Tom had to start from the fourth row. Tom moved up steadily, but stumbled on the beam and lost a position. Once again his head went down

"He fought for an hour, both in Wachtebeke and in the Duynen crossing. He also has to learn to race on wheels. He still makes a lot of mistakes when running in a group.

"Once he gets a free line, he moves up quickly. I'm not going to say that he can already threaten Van der Pol, because he's already got a good chance.

Pidcock is one of the biggest talents in pro cycling, having proven his ability in cyclocross, road racing, and mountain biking like Van der Pol. He has chosen to keep his career options open for now, preferring to ride for the Trinity Racing team built around him rather than sign with a major WorldTour team.

Bogarts revealed that Pidcock plans to continue to cyclocross in the winter of 2020-2021, but after testing his road racing ability at the under-23 Giro d'Italia in June, he may run as a stagiaire in late 2020.

"After the cyclocross season he will run the Cape Epic (March 15-22). After that, a few spring races on the road at the under-23 level. He also wants to run two mountain bike World Cup races. In between, the Tour of Yorkshire and Baby Giro are also on the schedule.

"There is no pressure at all yet (to get to the World Tour level). The goal is further development; we will analyze after the first half of 2020. Either he will be a trainee somewhere, or he will quietly continue working towards the 2020-2021 cyclocross season. He really wants to be at the top there."