The 17-year-old from Leeds held his nerve on the difficult course and despite having a mechanical following a crash, he maintained his composure to build up a lead allowing him to enjoy the moment.
Behind, a remarkable race full of incident unfolded as fellow British riders Daniel Tulett and Ben Turner battled it out for silver and bronze.
Tulett rode from mid-field up to the front, riding back up to Turner before a slip from his rival gave him the gap for silver.
“There was a lot of pressure in the last three weeks and it’s been hard to deal with it,” said Pidcock.
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“In the last few days the pressure died away and we just enjoyed ourselves and racing our bikes.
“It’s a great relief to win as I was dreading ending up at the bottom of a massive pile of bikes or having a massive crash. I’m very proud.”
Photo by Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com/REX/Shutterstock - Great Britain's Ben Turner. 2017 UCI Cyclocross World Championships - 28 Jan 2017
(Image credit: SWpix.com/REX/Shutterstock)
Britain had to wait just two hours for their next medal as Evie Richards clinched bronze in the under-23 women’s race following a valiant battle to retain her rainbow stripes.
The steep climbs of Bieles didn’t favour for the 19-year-old from Malvern and she was gapped from the leading pair with two laps to go.
Dutch mountain bike rider Annemarie Worst took the title breaking clear of American rider Ellen Noble on the final tricky section.
“I think I’m a lot better as the underdog and there has been a lot of pressure on me which has made me scared,” said Richards. “I’m delighted with a medal.”
Nigel Wynn worked as associate editor on CyclingWeekly.com, he worked almost single-handedly on the Cycling Weekly website in its early days. His passion for cycling, his writing and his creativity, as well as his hard work and dedication, were the original driving force behind the website’s success. Without him, CyclingWeekly.com would certainly not exist on the size and scale that it enjoys today. Nigel sadly passed away, following a brave battle with a cancer-related illness, in 2018. He was a highly valued colleague, and more importantly, an exceptional person to work with - his presence is sorely missed.
