Great Britain's Tom Pidcock lines up at Sunday's UCI Gravel World Championships with the number one on his back, but without having seen any of the course in Limburg, and less than 20 hours after finishing sixth in Il Lombardia.
The former mountain bike world champion hot-footed it from northern Italy to the Netherlands to take part in his first Gravel World Championships, and indeed his only gravel race of 2025, where, despite his inexperience, he will be considered one of the favourites.
Not only has Pidcock never ridden a Gravel World Championships before, though, but owing to his busy racing schedule in recent months and last-minute arrival in Limburg, he hasn't seen any of the men's elite race course either, and has spent minimal time on his gravel bike.
"It's a bit of everything. It's something new for me, something different," he said to Cyclingnews of his reasons for riding his first Gravel Worlds.
"But also, Pinarello launched their new gravel bike this year, so it's also partly that."
Pidcock is riding a custom red Dogma GR, and Pinarello also released a new Grevil F gravel bike this year.
Though it may be an important event for his bike sponsor, Pidcock hasn't put too much specific preparation into the Gravel World Championships. His big late-season goal was the Vuelta a España, where he came third, and he admitted at the Road World Championships that he hadn't put too much focus on the races coming after that.
"I haven't seen the course," he confirmed to Cyclingnews at the start in Beek.
"I've ridden the bike a little bit. It's fast, it feels like the road bike. They took inspiration from all of their bikes to make it, blended a bit of everything, so that definitely means it's good for a fast course like this."
Despite moving from Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5 last winter, Pidcock has continued to ride Pinarello bikes off-road, whilst riding Q36.5 Scott bikes on the road.
He has long had a close relationship with the brand, working with them to develop their mountain bike and cyclo-cross offerings, which has indirectly fed into the new gravel bikes.
"On this bike, I didn't have any input on the technical design, but on the other bikes I did, which they took inspiration from," he said.
The red and gold paint job – a nod to his Olympic titles on the mountain bike – was not Pidcock's doing, either.
"My girlfriend designed [the colours]," he said. "I don't know [the significance], she liked them."
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