Pidcock, who also claimed gold at last year's European Championships in Munich, launched a powerful late attack to cement his status as favourite for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Switzerland's Nino Schurter had established a healthy lead before being caught by Pidcock towards the end of the fifth lap in Glentress Forest.

Following the overtake, Pidcock did not look back and surged across the line for a 1hour 22min 9sec finish.

It was then double Commonwealth Games gold medallist Samuel Gaze of New Zealand that claimed the silver medal 19 seconds after Pidcock.

Despite falling off the pace in the latter stages, Rio 2016 Olympic champion Schurter managed to hold on for a podium place with a time of 1:22:43.

Picdock had to struggle through a mechanical issue in the last couple of laps but was still able to prevail.

"It's a massive relief," Pidcock said.

"As soon as I attacked, my gears were jumping all over the place.

"I didn't know if I should stop and tighten it up.

"My race could have been over at any point.

"I didn't want to go proper and put it under any stress.

"That was a stressful last two laps."

Ferrand-Prévot won the women's title for a fifth time as she led a French one-two with a time of 1:24:14.

Her compatriot Loana Lecomte followed her across the line, 1:14 later, before The Netherlands' Puck Pieterse was a further 13 seconds behind.

"I'm feeling very happy," Ferrand-Prévot said.

"It was a super hard race, I didn't have a good start but I wanted to keep my own pace during all the race.

"It's what I did -- full gas on the uphill and then I tried to recover on the downhill and it worked out perfectly.

"I'm proud of myself because I kept my plan even though I didn't have a good start.

"I just said: 'I have one mission today and I have to reach it'."