Tom Pidcock is satisfied with seventh place in his opening cyclocross race of the season at the Telenet Superprestige Boom.
The Brit finished within half a minute of the podium places but two minutes behind the Belgian Wout van Aert who romped home to victory, crossing the line 1-40 ahead of runner-up Toon Aerts who sealed second place.
"Pretty good actually, seventh. I mean I was far away from winning but nah, I was good," came Pidcock's assessment. "Considering what I've done, yeah, I'm pleased."
The muddy conditions made for spectacular if not precarious viewing, riders charging down a muddy downhill straight and using their expert handling skills to stay upright, at least most of the time.
"Too many crashes, [I'm a] bit bruised now," Pidcock admitted. "Still struggling to see as well, just the first race of the year it's not the perfect one to start with these conditions.
"There's always things you forget. like my lenses kept fogging up so I had to take them off and now I can't see and stuff, you feel like a numpty every time you do your first race of the year."
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(Image credit: Getty)
Pidcock will now head to Mallorca for a small training camp before the next UCI World Cup round in Val di Sole.
"Now we go to Mallorca for a bit of a training camp and then into the snow," temperatures being below zero in the Italian ski resort. "The warmest it's going to be is at the time we race when it's going to be -2.
"It's going to be weird isn't it, snow," he continued. "I've raced in the ice, not snow, the snow probably will turn to ice though won't it."
Pidcock will continue to build his form over the coming months before his main goal of this cyclocross season, the World Championships in Fayetteville on January 30.
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Jonny was Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor until 2022.
I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.
Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).
I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.
