In June, before the final stage of the Giro d’Italia in Rome, Q36.5’s Tom Pidcock suggested that he might be turning his focus away from the one-day races and his off-road pursuits and towards the grand tours.
“I think if I do manage to ever win a grand tour or get on the podium it would be one of the biggest achievements ever,” he told me.
This seemed rather optimistic at the time. Since his incredible performance bravely descending the Col du Galibier and then climbing Alpe d’Huez on the way to victory on the queen stage of the Tour de France in 2022, Pidcock has been somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place. “The last few grand tours have been a difficult point for me,” he said in June. “I’ve not really had success in them, and I’ve just kind of gone through and not really done much.”
But while he may not have had the preparation required for a grand tour before the Giro d’Italia (a race he finished in 16th) due to his second-division Q36.5 team only being invited one month before the start of that race, he made sure he was ready for La Vuelta, spending his summer away from the Tour de France (to which Q36.5 were not invited) and training at altitude.
On Sunday, on stage nine of La Vuelta, and just before the tour’s first rest day, the 26-year-old from Leeds showed early signs that he may well have what it takes to compete at the very top of World Tour cycling.
After a quiet but consistent first week, Pidcock finished second behind Visma-Lease a Bike’s Jonas Vingegaard and ahead of UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s João Almeida on the ninth stage in Estación de Esquí de Valdezcaray after 196km and a 13.3km climb in the pouring rain.
But, most importantly, he managed to drop the two-times grand tour winner Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers and the in-form Giulio Ciccone of Lidl-Trek, meaning he climbs seven places in the general classification (GC) to fourth. That is a de facto third place behind the race favourites Vingegaard and Almeida as the GC leader, Torstein Traeen, is expected to relinquish the Red Jersey in the coming stages. Pidcock is now 58 seconds behind Vingegaard and just 20 behind Almeida.
Vingegaard was victorious on the day and is second in the general classification
JAVIER LIZON/EPA
Before the stage began, Pidcock did not predict GC fireworks. “I think it will be a breakaway day,” he had said, “but you never know. Maybe someone wants to control it or the break is too big to work properly together but obviously with the last climb not being so hard it might be similar to other days.”
However, it soon became clear that Ciccone’s Lidl-Trek team had other ideas and wanted the stage victory. Their team came to the front of the peloton and began to control the gap. They were soon joined by Pidcock’s own Q36.5, particularly Nickolas Zukowsky, who helped set a fast pace in the peloton, suggesting Pidcock felt good.
By the foot of the final climb, and with 13km to go, the breakaway was caught and Lidl-Trek continued their hard pace. Matteo Jorgenson, of Visma, said: “I guess in the [Tour de France] we were some of the actors of chaos, but I think we’ve approached this first week in a really calm manner and allowed the bike racing to happen… it’s just a safer play for us.”
But apparently that tactic was already discarded by Visma as the American burst out from behind the peloton with team-mates Sepp Kuss and Vingegaard in tow and attacked brutally with 12km to go.
Only Ciccone could hold the wheel. Soon Vingegaard attacked by himself and Ciccone had to let go, drifting back into a chasing group that included Almeida, Pidcock and Bernal.
The peloton competing from Alfaro to Estacion de Esqui de Valdezcaray
DARIO BELINGHERI/GETTY IMAGES
“To be honest, maybe I didn’t do my homework good enough because I thought it was closer to the finish when I attacked,” Vingegaard said afterwards, “and I was a bit surprised when I saw the 10km banner but at that moment I had the gap and I had to keep going. [I was] not necessarily [looking for the Red Jersey] but just more the stage win and to try to take some time on some of my closer opponents.”
Almeida, who was caught out of position, rode on the front of the group and tried to claw back the gap to the two-times Tour de France champion, and soon dropped every rider except Pidcock and Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
“I thought Almeida was a perfect wheel to go on and I thought maybe we could come back,” Pidcock said. “Chapeau to him, I couldn’t give him any turns and he was shouting at me but he’s like a tractor.
“He told me to grow some balls but if he rides a bit slower I’ll give him some more turns!”
But Almeida was more concerned by his lack of team-mates. “I could see [Pidcock and Gall] were on the limit so they couldn’t contribute much,” he said. “I missed a little bit my team-mates today, nobody was with me in the end, it is what it is.”
The rain continued to pour and soon Gall was dropped and Vingegaard managed to get his gap to Almeida and Pidcock to 30 seconds. On the flatter 5km, finally the Briton was able to offer turns but the duo could not get the gap down any lower than 24 seconds.
Daan Hoole of Netherlands and Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier of Eritrea lead the pack
DARIO BELINGHERI/GETTY IMAGES
In the final kilometre, Almeida attacked and even then Pidcock would not be broken; he launched a sprint and just about came around Almeida on the line for second place.
“I’m happy,” Pidcock said. “I think it’s difficult to fully know what my capabilities are. Sometimes I’m a bit cautious but it definitely gives me confidence going into the hardest stages to come. I always kind of thought when these guys are jumping around doing full on sprints on the climbs, someday it’s going to bite them on the back… but it’s a long way to go, not taking any conclusions from it yet.”
Monday is a much-needed rest day before the second week, which looks to be brutal. There is not a single flat day over the next six stages and two of those days are in the high mountains once again. Friday’s stage 13 in particular looks likely to reveal who really is the strongest as the peloton climbs the haute category 12.4km Angliru (average gradient 9.7 per cent).
But the man from Leeds has shown he is becoming a different rider. To hold the wheel of Almeida, finish second behind Vingegaard and move up to a de facto third place on GC, while gaining over a minute on the likes of Ciccone and Bernal, is one of his best performances in a stage race despite not taking the win.
The second week will be another matter and will reveal if he can stay in contention against the pure climbers. “We all know the last two weeks are the two proper weeks,” Pidcock said. “Everyone knows what’s to come.”
La Vuelta leading positions
Stage nine (Alfaro to Valdezcaray, 195km): 1, J Vingegaard (Den, Visma-Lease a Bike) 4hr 32min 10sec; 2, T Pidcock (GB, Q36.5 Pro Cycling) at 24sec; 3, J Almeida (Por, UAE Team Emirates-XRG) same time; 4, F Gall (Austria, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) 1:02; 5, R García (Sp, Arkéa-B&B Hotels) 1:46.
Overall 1, T Traen (Nor, Bahrain Victorious) 33:35:46; 2, Vingegaard at 37sec; 3, Almeida 1:15; 4, Pidcock 1:35; 5, Gall 2:14.