We were just outside of Castelnuovo Berardenga, 136km along the route of Strade Bianche and waiting for Tom Pidcock. The sky was grey with clouds, but it hadn’t rained. It was cold and we stood by the roadside and watched and waited.
Soon, motorbikes with flashing lights appeared, followed by the race director’s red Citroën, and then Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG. He looked comfortable as he shot by and was gone, chased by the TV cameras. Then we waited again. Twenty seconds passed, then 30, then 60 — and then came Paul Seixas, Isaac Del Toro and Pidcock in a group of five riders.
Matteo Cavazzuti, a member of Pidcock’s Pinarello-Q36.5 team, stepped out into the road holding a bag aloft. “Tom, Tom!” he shouted and moved closer to the centre. The musette contained a nutritionist-prescribed bottle of 40g carbohydrate drink mixed with water and six energy gels.
Pidcock did not take the bag, but he pedalled out to the side of the road at 40km/h and took the second option, a bottle with a gel fastened to it by an elastic band, from Madeleine Müller, the team’s doctor. Then they were gone, and silence fell.
We waited for the rest of the peloton, which came through in dust-covered drips and drabs. Then we ran for the car, got in and began the drive to the Piazza del Campo in Siena for the end of the 203km race.
“It’s a pity,” Cavazzuti said. “To be dropped is one thing, to have a mechanical problem at that moment, though… did you see Pogacar? He was like a motorbike.”
Pidcock is known for his supreme handling of a bike on slippery gravel, punchy climbs and treacherous descents
LUC CLAESSEN/GETTY IMAGES
The mood is positive
Strade Bianche is one of 26-year-old Tom Pidcock’s favourite races. It is one that suits his abilities: supreme bike handling on slippery gravel, sharp, punchy climbs, treacherous descents. Indeed, he won here in 2023 and pushed Pogacar to the limit in 2025, managing a valiant second place.
Coming into this weekend, his fifth Strade Bianche and second with his new team since leaving Ineos Grenadiers at the beginning of 2025, he was optimistic, focused and one of the favourites.
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Pidcock went out to Chile with the team to train at altitude for three weeks over the winter and came down to Europe looking punchy. But things didn’t fall into place for him during his early races. He was caught out while trying to remove a rain jacket at the Vuelta a Murcia. And while he managed a devastating attack in the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía to take his first win of the season, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad was another difficult day as he suffered in the cold.
“I was getting frustrated [before Andalucia],” a relaxed and smiling Pidcock tells me at the riders’ presentation in the Medici Fortress on the Friday before the race. “Those races really suited me and I missed opportunities in different scenarios. I mean, I had great legs. Now it’s back to basics and trying to perform.”
Strade Bianche is a different matter. The first real goal of the season, everything else was just preparation. He was laser-focused and carried out two recon rides the week before the race; the team didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
Pidcock went out to Chile to train at altitude but things didn’t fall into place for him during his early races
LUC CLAESSEN/GETTY IMAGES
“It’s a particular race where you need to dial your material as well as you can and be prepared,” says Kurt Bogaerts, Pidcock’s long-time coach and now Pinarello-Q36.5 director sportif. “If it is raining, you need to know if you need to change something on the tyres and wheels. We are quite sure it’s likely to be dry. We need to make sure we have the right set-up.”
The night before Strade Bianche, with all the preparation over and the media dealt with, Pidcock and the team returned to their hotel just outside San Gimignano, a small and beautiful town of 14 medieval towers that poke out among the red tile roofs. He was able to unwind and rest and have dinner and then go to bed.
Pidcock is not a man of rituals. There are no lucky socks, no particular music he listens to before a race. As I have a coffee by the team bus on Saturday morning with Doug Ryder, the team manager, Pidcock emerges from the bus smiling and hugs his fiancé, Bethany, and his grandparents, and jokes and laughs and gets on his bike to ride off to the start.
Pidcock enjoys some words of support from his fiancée Bethany, centre
SEAN RUSSELL
The mood is positive. There is a feeling Pidcock can do something, that he has a chance of a good result. The mechanics are smiling and chatting, music is playing and fans come over to the bus to get a glimpse of Pidcock. “Tom’s chipper today,” says Ryder. “I was walking with him after breakfast and he was joking about the weather. So he’s in a good mood. Let’s hope he has a good day.”
Pogacar is the bellwether against which all riders measure themselves. Are they closer to him or further away? Pidcock took a “calculated risk” to go to Chile in the heat and altitude, this was mostly in preparation for the Tour de France, which is expected to be hot and hard. But also to try something different. Strade was Pidcock’s first real chance to see if the work had paid off.
Riders encounter plenty of challenges during Strade Bianche with its testing dirt roads
LUCA BARSALI/NURPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
“You have a really strong opponent who is strong across the board,” Bogaerts says. “If you see Pogacar’s palmares [records] it’s quite unique what he did at that age and he’s a unique bike rider. But, number one, you have to look at yourself and try to make the best version of yourself and be ready for a battle.”
The cars were ready to go, the riders were lined up at the start. The relaxed party vibe in the coach park became tense and anxious as the orchestration of a cycling race began and the booming music stopped.
“Today is going to be an absolute war and an epic battle,” Ryder says. “So let’s hope the team can give him the best opportunity. And then let’s hope for the best, but it’s going to be a beautiful race to watch. I can’t wait for it.”
A cloud of dust, then silence
There are five dictated feed zones along the way. Cavazzuti, Müller and I headed out onto the course before the race start. The Tuscan green fields were rolling out alongside us and we headed to Monte Sante Marie first, an 11.5km stretch of gravel.
“TV doesn’t do this sector justice,” Cavazzuti says. “I rode it once on a gravel bike and it was brutal. It never ends!”
The sector rises and falls like a rollercoaster, sometimes you head upwards with no sight of the other side, just the sky and the tops of the trees, and then the road dips dramatically down. The gravel was loose and dry, it hadn’t rained for days. The fine powder flew up behind us and filled the windows before we could close them, covering us in a fine layer of dust.
The long and winding road… a typically iconic scene from this year’s Strade Bianche
TIM DE WAELE/GETTY IMAGES
“Is there any rain on the course?” Bogaerts asks over the radio.
“He sounds nervous,” Cavazzuti says.
Then over the radio a chorus of answers: “No rain, no wind, just cloud.”
We found our spot and Cavazzuti prepared the bottles, the gels and the bags. Once everything was ready we sat in the car and waited and watched the race on an iPad. The riders were on Monte Sante Marie, about 125km in. They wouldn’t be long. But then, just as Pogacar attacked in a cloud of dust, Pidcock lost his chain and slipped back.
The team radio was quiet. Pogacar simply rode away.
Bad luck at the wrong time
Back in the Piazza del Campo I rushed to the finish line, where all the teams waited for the riders. I found the Pinarello-Q36.5 guys and they looked beaten and down. But they also looked concerned for Pidcock, who had done so much and targeted this race so wholeheartedly, and was frustrated by bad luck at the wrong time, even if it may not have changed the result.
Pidcock came across the line in seventh. He was covered in dust and sweat and Bethany went to him and wiped his nose. He looked empty, tired, disappointed. He rehydrated and wiped the sweat from his face, processing what just happened. Eventually he caught his breath.
“I think you can feel a bit of like, solemnity here with everyone,” Pidcock said. “With Visma there behind as well, I think with UAE like that, there’s not much you can do.”