Tom Pidcock has said he could try and replicate Mathieu van der Poel's team structure with Trinity Racing as he continues to eye major victories in multiple disciplines.
The British rider has set his sights on adding two further rainbow jerseys to his collection this season, to gain the honour of having been world champion in four different disciplines.
"I have been doing this all my life, changing bikes," Pidcock told Het Laatste Nieuws. "If Van der Poel, or Wout Van Aert, had not been there, I would have still done so. They have shown that the combination is perfectly possible. That makes it easier for me to do it as well."
Pidcock took the junior world time trial championships in 2017, before taking the U23 cyclocross word championships title in 2019. This year he hopes to add titles on the road and in mountain biking, as well as qualifying for the latter discipline in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
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“Then I'll have a world title in four disciplines," Pidcock said. "I've never had that and that's why I want to try it."
These lofty goals need a team willing to accommodate his divergent goals. Despite being on the radar of numerous WorldTour outfits for some time, Pidcock has kept his progress steady and is now eyeing replicating the model of Mathieu van der Poel's team.
Alpecin-Fenix have been given invitations to a number of elite races this year in order to guarantee crowd-favourite Van der Poel's appearance on the start line. Taking on major sponsors such as Alpecin and Canyon means a bigger budget than their Corendon-Circus iteration. Pidcock thinks this could also work with his Trinity Racing outfit.
"Why not grow with Trinity? Maybe I can continue to develop together with this team and we can go the same way as Mathieu van der Poel's team. Van der Poel inspired that idea," Pidcock said.
"You can do crosses and courses on the road today in any WorldTour team, just look at Jumbo-Visma, but I also want to include mountain biking. I don't want to be with Van der Poel's team, because they already have Mathieu."
Having finished runner-up to Van der Poel at the recent world cyclocross championships, Pidcock will be hoping his continued development sees him become the rider who can provide the stiffest challenge to his Dutch peer.
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