FED up of trains and planes (no mention of boats yet), Tom Pidcock was allowing himself to dream.

"I wouldn't mind having my own private jet," said the travel-weary 18-year-old from Otley.

"If there is one thing that I hate about being a professional cyclist, it is hanging about in airports or railway stations waiting for transport."

However, the way that the cyclo-cross and track rider is going, maybe that Lear Jet or Cessna is closer for him than he thinks.

Pidcock, who is competing in the Tour de Yorkshire this year for the Great Britain squad, has already pocketed the European junior and world junior cyclo-cross titles in 2016-17 (the latter as part of an unprecedented British 1-2-3) and the under-23 British Championships and World Cup last winter.

On the road, he became the first guest rider to win a round of the Tour Series – in Durham last May – and followed that up by winning an elite race in the British National Circuit Race Championships in Sheffield in June and the junior time trial race at the World Championships in Norway in September.

It is all a far cry from his first race as a seven-year-old when his chain came off and he was beaten by a girl, with Pidcock then apparently throwing a massive strop.

But what some might see as a child who cannot face losing, others will see as a true competitor, and Pidcock says: "What could be better than getting paid for doing something that you love?"

Further down the line could be road racing's grand tours – the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and La Vuelta a Espana – although Pidcock admits: "That could be two or three years away."

When asked if he prefers the tarmac or cobbles of road racing or the mud and off-camber inclines of cyclo-cross, the teenage prodigy gave a slightly cryptic answer; "It depends on what time of year that you ask me!"

But with the road racing season (March-September) and the cyclo-cross season (September-February) slightly overlapping, he does occasionally have to make a decision about where he competes.

He said: "This autumn for example there is the World Road Championships or the first two rounds of the cyclo-cross World Cup."

Generally, however, Pidcock can plough his own furrow doing the thing that he loves, which also includes track racing, where he won the National Junior scratch title last year.

'Pidders', who rides for the Telenet Fidea Lions cyclo-cross team internationally and the Paul Milnes Oldfield ERT team nationally, began riding aged three.

He had to have his feet tied to the pedals with string (no stabilisers here) and practised around Herne Hill Velodrome in London, near a childhood friend.

Pidcock claims not to remember that first race, but by the time he was 10, he was keen enough to do morning training before he went to school.

This is when his ambition to be a professional cyclist was born, strengthened by achieving podium placings in mountain biking and road racing.

His first victory did not come until he was 14 around the famous Oliver's Mount motor racing circuit, and he won three further times at the iconic Scarborough venue on the way to representing Great Britain on the road, track and at cyclo-cross in 2016.

The following winter Pidcock was truly on his way after junior men's cyclo-cross victories at national, European and world level, and last winter he moved up to the men's under-23 age group, where he won national and World Cup crowns and was second in the Europeans.

On the road, Pidcock has twice won the Junior Tour of Wales (2016, 2017), also taking the national criterium title, world junior time trial and the Paris-Roubaix junior crown.

How long before the Otley teenager can order a drink on his own jet while cruising at 30,000 feet?

By his achievements so far, not long. Waitress . . .