This past weekend, the Cyclocross World Championships took place in Fayetteville Arkansas, United States; It is the second time that this event has been held on U.S. soil, the first time was in 2013. Being outside of Europe (not usual for the Worlds) gave a different feeling to the races in terms of not only landscape, but also in terms of energy as the American riders were able to feel more support by the crowd. Furthermore, travel and stay logistics were also a bit different this time as the teams faced a particular situation created by the pandemic such as reduced staff, and the need of being locked up in the hotel to avoid any contagion before the race. But despite all that atypical circumstances, the athletes were present and ready for the battle for the rainbow jerseys, but as in all competitions only a few were able to achieve this goal.
For Challenge, the World Championships are always the best scenario to test its handmade tires, as its premise is to provide products capable of merging grip, suppleness, control and speed in the same package, and the results of the CX Worlds lived up to that.
The event started with the Women Junior race which gave Challenge the first World Championship win of the year. This first race was won by the British rider Zoe Backstedt who added one more milestone to an incredible CX season. Moving on to the final and most anticipated race, Tom Pidcock lived up to the expectations by winning in the Men Elite category after a tough fight against the Belgian riders and giving to Challenge another World title. Tom became the first-ever British athlete to win the CX Men Elite Championship. Before the Worlds, Challenge interviewed Tom and he pointed out what is his goal for the next few years, to which he replied “World Champion in each discipline, that’s probably my biggest goal”, and this is definitely the beginning of the path towards that objective.
