TOM Pidcock made becoming the first Briton to win the men's elite UCI cyclo-cross world title look easy as he broke away for a comfortable victory in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The 22-year-old Leeds star, who was once a key member of the Bradford-based Paul Milnes team, delivered on his status as race favourite to add to the junior and under-23 world titles he had previously won in this discipline.

Victory also means he adds another rainbow jersey to his collection a little over six months after taking Olympic gold on his mountain bike.

Pidcock, who once opened a purpose-built cycling track at Horton Park Primary School on the Canterbury estate in Bradford, knew that his task on Sunday would be made easier by the absence of Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van Der Poel

Those two had won the last seven titles between them, so Pidcock's main challenge this weekend was to counter the superior strength in numbers of the Belgian squad.

He did just that by breaking clear after five of nine laps around the dusty course.

His lead quickly grew as others behind debated who might chase, and Pidcock had time to high five the crowd down the finish line before getting into a superman pose on his bike.

His margin of victory was a whole 30 seconds over Dutchman Lars Van Der Haar, who outsprinted Belgium's Eli Iserbyt for silver.

"That was always going to be a super-hard race," Pidcock said. "The Belgians were trying to ride a tactical race. I found an opportunity and made it stick.

"Without Wout and Mathieu here, I think it became harder to win the race. But we came in with a plan and a process. We stuck to the process and it was good in the end."

Pidcock's win came 24 hours after Welsh rider Zoe Backstedt, 17, won the women's junior title.