Pidcock accelerated clear of Aldridge on lap seven of eight, riding clear before embracing the crowd and lifting up his bike at the finish line in a time of one hour 25 minutes and 26 seconds.

“I crashed pretty badly in practice on Friday and my back was hurting from the first lap. The last two laps I just had to push and stretch that gap before a final sprint. That was a pretty hard race,” he added.

Switzerland’s Sina Frei won the women’s cross-country title, with Great Britain’s Evie Richards crossing in sixth place.

On Thursday Richards, 29, narrowly missed out on a second elite women’s short track world title as she was edged into second on the line by Austria’s Laura Stigger.

Having rounded the final corner in the lead, Richards faded as Stigger came on her left to take the title by little more than a wheel rim.

Aldridge also picked up silver on Thursday in the elite men’s short track.

The 25-year-old looked in control on the long final straight but France’s Adrien Boichis pipped him to gold.

In the downhill on Saturday, Great Britain’s Harriet Harnden claimed bronze in the women’s event and Jordan Williams did the same in the men’s.