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Tom Pidcock and Evie Richards named in Great Britain team for UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships

Helen Wyman and Nikki Brammeier also selected in 13-rider Great Britain line-up for Valkenburg

Rising stars Tom Pidcock and Evie Richards will bid for more UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships success after being named in a 13-strong British team which also features World Cup stars Helen Wyman and Nikki Brammeier.

With the worlds taking place in Valkenburg this weekend (Saturday February 3 and Sunday February 4), Pidcock and Richards – the new under-23 national champions – are among Great Britain’s biggest medal hopes.

Pidcock won the junior world title last year, leading home a British one-two-three ahead of team-mates Ben Turner and Dan Tulett, and all three will step up to under-23 level this time out.

Tom Pidcock, Ben Turner and Dan Tulett will ride at under-23 level in Valkenburg after sealing a 1-2-3 in the men’s junior race last year (Oic: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com)

Indeed, Pidcock has won four rounds of the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup at under-23 level, and will roll out among the favourites on the tricky Valkenburg course.

Richards, meanwhile, was the first ever under-23 women’s world champion in 2016, before winning bronze in the same event last year. Now the 20-year-old will be bid for a third successive podium finish off the back of winning her first senior World Cup event in Namur in December.

Richards will be joined in the women’s under-23 race by team-mates Hattie Harnden and Anna Kay.

Meanwhile, Brammeier – who sealed fourth place overall in the World Cup at Hoogerheide last weekend – and newly-recrowned national champion Wyman, who was seventh overall – race in the elite women’s category.

Wyman is one of only two Brits to have finished on the final podium in the elite women’s race, having been third in 2014.

– Ten minutes with… Mudiiita Cross Project co-founder Matt Brammeier –

Brammeier, who this season founded the Mudiiita Cross Project with husband Matt, and Wyman will be joined in the women’s race by Beth Crumpton, while Ian Field is the sole British representative in the elite men’s race.

The British team is completed by a trio of junior men – Ben Tulett, national champion Sean Flynn and Jenson Young.

Evie Richards will also bid to reclaim her world title in the women’s under-23 race (Pic: Alex Whitehead/SWPix.com)

British Cycling’s Matt Ellis said of the selection: “The course is difficult, as you would expect for a world championships. It’s hilly, with a lot of off-camber sections which requires high fitness levels, and it’s grassy and therefore likely to get muddy and slippy which will challenge the riders’ technical abilities.

“Looking at the skillsets of the riders we have selected, the course does suit a lot of our riders’ attributes and I think we can expect some good results, reflective of what we’ve seen from them this season.”

Great Britain team for the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships

Elite men
Ian Field

Elite women
Nikki Brammeier
Beth Crumpton
Helen Wyman

Under-23 men
Tom Pidcock
Dan Tulett
Ben Turner

Under-23 women
Harriet Harnden
Anna Kay
Evie Richards

Junior men
Sean Flynn
Ben Tulett
Jenson Young

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