Tom Pidcock will close out the cyclocross season on Sunday at the Benidorm World Cup and start the road season at the Volta Ao Algarve after racing in the Shimano Supercup Massi MTB event in La Nucia on February 11.

The Briton's season will be built around defending his mountain bike cross-country titles in the Ardennes Classics, Tour de France, and the Olympic Games in Paris. Pidcock has just over a week to prepare between the latter two events, but believes he will be ready in time.

"I want to defend my title at the Olympics next year, but I also have to find a balance with the team. They need me and they want me in the Tour."

Pidcock plans alternative races in the spring classics, skipping cobbled races other than the Tour de Flanders and Omloop Het Niusbrod to defend his title on the white Tuscan roads before heading to Milan-San Remo and Tirreno Adriatico Back to Strade Bianche.

Instead of the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, Pidcock will reportedly compete in Iturria-Basque as part of his preparations for the Tour de France and Ardennes Classics. [Pidcock has the best results by a British rider in the Monument since 1988, with a second place in the Amstel Gold Race in 2023, a sixth in La Flèche Wallonne, and a second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Participating in all the races in Flanders limits the number of races you can compete in. Bogarts told Het Nieuwsblad in November, "If I want to do more than participate in stage races like the Volta ao Algarve, I need to reduce my program.

He confirmed last month his clear goal of going for GC in the Tour de France, but did not want to reveal who would be the main leader of the Ineos Grenadiers, since Carlos Rodriguez, who finished fifth in last year's Tour, will also be at the start in Florence I did not want to reveal who would be the main leader of Ineos Grenadier.

"I think it is too early to think about my role," Pidcock told AS and the media after the Benidorm World Cup. I have to go into the Tour de France with a realistic vision of what I can achieve and with my own goals."

Pidcock believes that his career-best victory on the summit of Alpe d'Huez in his 2022 Tour debut "might have put a little pressure on me," and he had less success in the 2023 race, although he moved from 16th to 13th in the overall standings. He was very competitive in the first week, but by Paris he had dropped out of the top 10.

This winter, Pidcock's cyclocross season was cut short due to illness and he missed three races, but returned to competition in his last race along with two other members of the cyclocross "big three," Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert.

While the entire trio suffered mishaps in an exciting round of the CX World Cup, van Aert won in Spain, but Pidcock was only ninth when he tried to jump over a board and came off his bike, albeit from his feet. He will make his road debut next month.