The Olympic mountain bike champion added the European title to his rapidly-growing collection after soaring to a stunning Stage 12 triumph at the Tour de France last month.

The Leeds star, 23, competes in road, mountain and cyclo-cross events and kicked his year off by winning Cyclo-cross World Championship gold in Arkansas.

The mountain and road events are next on his jam-packed calendar and Pidcock says the escapism of his favourite discipline this week can help fire him to a treble.

MUNICH, GERMANY - AUGUST 19: Thomas Pidcock of Great Britain crosses the finish line to win the Men's Cross-Country during the cycling Mountain Bike competition on day 9 of the European Championships Munich 2022 at Olympiapark on August 19, 2022 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Pidcock, who beat Denmark's Sebastian Fini Carstensen and Swiss star Filippo Colombo to gold, said: “Mountain biking is what I enjoy doing and gives me a mental break from the road.

“As much as I enjoy the road, it’s much more high-pressured and a more high-performance environment.

“This gets me away and means I enjoy riding my bike – and that’s one of the big reasons I do mountain bike.

“It’s a good nice fun atmosphere – it’s more of a relaxed sport than road racing.

British Tom Pidcock of Ineos Grenadiers celebrates on the podium after winning the men cross country race of the Mountainbike (VTT) event on the ninth day of the Athletics European Championships, at Munich 2022, Germany, on Friday 19 August 2022. The second edition of the European Championships takes place from 11 to 22 August and features nine sports. BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND (Photo by ERIC LALMAND / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP) (Photo by ERIC LALMAND/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

“I know that I can still just drop into mountain bike and still be able to win if I prepare properly.

“My three biggest goals this year were the three World Championships.

“The hardest one to win is the first one – there are still a couple more to go so I'm not finished yet."

Pidcock recovered from an early crash on Friday’s 34.9km route to plough through the field and claim a dominant victory by 11 seconds.

British Tom Pidcock of Ineos Grenadiers pictured in action during the men cross country race of the Mountainbike (VTT) event on the ninth day of the Athletics European Championships, at Munich 2022, Germany, on Friday 19 August 2022. The second edition of the European Championships takes place from 11 to 22 August and features nine sports. BELGA PHOTO ERIC LALMAND (Photo by ERIC LALMAND / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP) (Photo by ERIC LALMAND/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

He now travels to France for the Mountain Bike World Championships next week bidding to claim the second world title of his already remarkable career.

The Yorkshire star catapulted himself onto the scene by becoming the first British cyclist to win a mountain bike Olympic medal in Tokyo before his 2022 cyclo-cross world title cemented his status as one of the sport’s hottest prospects.

Pidcock announced himself on the road with a stunning solo Tour de France victory on the Alpe d'Huez and now also looks set to be a key contender when he turns his attention to September’s Road World Championships in Australia.

He added: "It was a pretty hard race today – crashing on the first corner wasn’t ideal and riding out front by myself makes it all that bit harder.

“I didn’t make it easy for myself, but I’m quite used to coming from behind as I’m not that fast at starting in general.

“The most important thing today was giving myself a bit of a kicking and also confidence for next week.”

The multi-sport European Championships Munich 2022, featuring Athletics, Beach Volleyball, Canoe Sprint, Cycling, Gymnastics, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Rowing, Sport Climbing, takes place 11th-21st August on the 50th anniversary of the Olympics Games in the German city. Watch daily live coverage across BBC One, Two, Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website.

Tom Pidcock: Leeds cyclist storms to mountain bike gold at European Championships despite early crash