Tom Pidcock completed his second cyclocross race of the season on Sunday at the snowy World Cup round in Val di Sole, moving up to third after finishing seventh at last weekend's Boom Superprestige.

The British rider has just returned to racing after a long break following the road world championships in September.

He finished 1:28 behind Italian winner Wout Van Aert, but was still sandwiched between Pauwels Sausen-Bingaert's Michael Van Tulenhout and Eli Iserbyt for his first podium of the season.

Pidcock started in the middle of the pack and moved up during the race. After the race he said it got harder as the race went on, noting that he made a mistake at the end of the hour-long race with Yzerbito, who was fighting for the last podium spot.

"I think me and Eli Yzerbito made a lot of mistakes in the final," he said. It was freezing cold, the ruts were icy, and it was really tricky and technical. I tried to concentrate as much as possible.

Pidcock and World Cup leader Iserbitt battled closely for most of the race with Van Aert and Van Tulenhout ahead of them, but Pidcock gained the upper hand in the closing laps and pulled ahead with two laps to go to secure the podium after the Belgian made several small mistakes on the final lap. to secure his place on the podium.

Pidcock said that the snow setting he had prepared to showcase the sport in his bid to qualify for the Winter Olympics worked well, even if the surface was not suitable for racing.

"It worked pretty well," he said. The snow conditions were very different from what we're used to." It's a good start to getting cyclocross into the Winter Olympics.

"But I'm looking forward to it because the mud suits me better and I like it better than snow and sand.

Pidcock will compete in two World Cup races next weekend in Lucfen, Netherlands, on Saturday and Namur, Belgium, on Sunday.

"I hope to do well next weekend," he said. 'Last week I was seventh, now I'm third. Last week I was seventh, now I'm third. I think I'm finding my legs pretty quickly, so I think I can be up there next week. I wouldn't say I'm in top condition, but I think it will be a good race."

Pidcock will compete in the next two World Cup races, followed by the World Cup Dendermonde on Boxing Day, including the first meeting between him, Van Aert, and Mathieu Van Der Pol to conclude 2021.

In mid-January, he will take a break before heading to Ineos Grenadiers training camp in Spain before returning to cyclocross for the World Championships in Fayeville, USA.