Tom Pidcock is the only man to defeat Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche in the last five years. Still, the Britton looked down, if not defeated during a blunt interview post-race in Sienna.
“I think you can feel a bit of sombreness here with everyone,” Pidcock admitted to Eurosport camera’s, adding his list to the growing number of riders no longer able to hide their frustration with the world champions dominance. “With UAE like that, there’s not much you can do.”
While the 2023 Strade Bianche winner didn’t have luck on his side, dropping his chain twice on Santa Marie, but he wasn’t pinning his seventh place result on equipment.
“That really killed my momentum,” Pidcock said, quickly qualifying “But I wouldn’t have been with Tadej anyway. I don’t think it changed the race much other than taking a bit more out of me.”
After that, Pidcock says he lost contact with Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro, who would round out the podium, when the two formed the lead group because he was “just too far back.”
Pidcock on Monte Sante Marie. Photo: Sirotti
“It was not really that fun, to be honest.”
When Pogačar went solo off the front, the Q36.5-Pinarello rider put in a good effort to try close the gap. Did he think it was possible to end one of the Slovenian’s trademark long-range flyers?
“At one point, yeah,” Pidcock says of when the gap closed to under two minutes. “But I think that’s is a pretty big gap when people are thinking about the final.”
Pidcock, with Tour stages, numerous race wins and, on the mountain bike side, a pair of medals, is quite accustomed to winning races. He’s less enthused about racing for second.
“It was not really that fun to be honest,” Pidcock stated in his typically blunt fashion.
“It’s so difficult when you’re in the group behind and the race has gone,” Pidcock explained. “You can always think, oh this is the race now. But it’s not really how it is when there’s a guy out in front.”