WORLD Cup champion Tom Pidcock could only finish 15th after a gruelling men's under-23 race in the UCI World Cyclo-Cross Championship at Valkenburg in the Netherlands.

The Otley teenager led a British clean sweep of the junior men's race last year in Luxembourg but 2017 runner-up Dan Tulett finished 20th this time and last year's bronze medallist Ben Turner was 25th.

Tulett admitted: "It was the hardest bike race I've ever done – it was savage from the off."

However, the weekend did show Great Britain's prowess, with Evie Richards regaining the women's under-23 crown that she won in 2016 and Harriet Harnden finishing a superb fourth.

Ben Tulett, Dan's younger brother, won the junior men's race, thus ensuring that it stayed in British hands.

Meanwhile, former East Morton resident Ian Field finished in the midfield of a men's race that was one of the toughest World Championship courses seen in a long time.