Tom Pidcock's name has been added to the list of big-name riders who will miss the UCI Road World Championships in Australia.

After the first stage of the Tour of Britain, the Ineos Grenadiers rider told Cycling News.

"Mentally, I couldn't prepare for the World Championships anymore. I've been in Australia for a long time. If I want to go for the road world championships, I need to be at 100%. I only dreamed of winning the mountain bike world championships, so when that didn't happen I was a little bit lost. So I dreamed of winning the World Championships in mountain biking.

Pidcock confirmed that he was originally on the British long list to race in Wollongong. British Cycling has not announced the finalists, but Fred Wright and Ethan Hayter are expected to be selected as protected riders.

The Yorkshireman has had a hard time overcoming his performance at Les Gets a week ago. With veteran Nino Schluter taking the rainbow jersey, he crashed on the last lap before finishing fourth.

"Honestly, it's been a difficult week.

"We prepared well, but everything went wrong. First before the race, and then during the race. No matter what I did, no matter how much I tried to control it, no matter how much I tried to get back on track, something just didn't work. But coming here, I felt positive about the race."

"I was very happy to be here.

The 23-year-old Yorkshireman is one of the favorites to win the Tour of Britain.

In his first road race opening stage since stage wins in the Tour de France and L'Alpe d'Huez, he sprinted to fifth place in the uphill finish at the Glenshee ski center in Scotland. Ineos Grenadiers teammate Omar Freire finished second behind Corbin Strong (Israel Premier Tech).

Pidcock was filmed on television coverage of the race as he came back through the pack with 6 km to go.

"I had to take a leak," he said. 'I was supposed to be on Omar's wheel. That would have been ideal, and we would have won. I relaxed a little too much.

"It was a big headwind and I made a mistake. The Tour was my last race and it was deep, so there were a lot of trains going up this huge road.

"I think I can win the race," he said of his Tour of Britain aspirations. Asked if that referred to him personally, he replied unequivocally: "I think we can win the race, but we have some cards to play."

In addition to him and Freire, the Ineos Grenadiers include former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, American talent Magnus Sheffield, Andrei Amador, and the retiring Richie Porte.

After a season that included his Tour de France debut and the Mountain Bike European Championships, Pidcock indicated that he expects the Tour of Britain to be his last road race before a break and cyclo-cross season.

"We need to plan for that. There are some uncertainties about the World Cup (race) in England, but it will obviously be one of our major goals if it happens."

"We have to plan for that.

Meanwhile, he is "undecided" about defending the rainbow jersey at the World Championships in the Netherlands in February.

"I want to prepare properly for the Classic. I don't know how well Hochelheide will suit me. It needs to be a good course if I want to beat Wout (van Aar) and Mathieu (van der Pol)."

"I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to win the race.

But in my mind, I don't really want to do cross. A full season of cross, road, Tour, and World Championships ...... What I don't want to do.

"So I don't know yet if it's the European Championships in the first half of the season and the World Cup in England, or the World Championships at the end of the season."