{"id":427815,"date":"2026-02-16T00:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427815\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T00:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:13:09","slug":"im-not-here-to-talk-about-tadej-im-just-thinking-about-what-i-can-do-in-these-races-tom-pidcock-puts-pogacar-challenge-on-hold-and-focuses-on-dirt-roads-of-clasica-jaen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/427815\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m not here to talk about Tadej. I’m just thinking about what I can do in these races’ – Tom Pidcock puts Poga\u010dar challenge on hold and focuses on dirt roads of Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rather than getting overly fixated on hypotheticals involving Tadej Poga\u010dar, Tom Pidcock<\/a> (Pinarello-Q36.5) <\/a>has made it clear that he is currently focused on what he achieves in his own race program, with his next goal the Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Considered as a miniature version of the Italian Strade Bianche<\/a> race and featuring numerous sections of gravel-track during its 154-kilometre trek through the dense olive groves of Ja\u00e9n in NE Andalucia, given his success rate in off-road racing, Pidcock will be one of the top names to follow when he makes his debut in the Spanish 1.1-ranked event.<\/p>\n

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Other top names include UAE Team Emirates-XRG<\/a> duo Marc Soler and Tim Wellens – the latter a former podium finisher in Ja\u00e9n on two occasions and on paper one of Pidcock’s toughest rivals on Monday – as well as rising Italian star Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Another key rider to watch will be former Gravel World Champion Matej Mohori\u010d<\/a> (Bahrain Victorious).<\/p>\n

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In an interview with Spanish newspaper MARCA,<\/a> Pidcock insisted that Poga\u010dar – also a former winner of Ja\u00e9n<\/a> whom the Briton will next face again in a much-anticipated edition of Strade Bianche in six weeks’ time – was not invincible. But then made it clear that his main current focus was on how he could perform at his best in his own race program.<\/p>\n

Pidcock answered with a categorical ‘Yes’ when asked if Poga\u010dar was beatable, although he added that there was no specific strategy for doing so.<\/p>\n

“Everybody is beatable, that’s all I know. I’m not going to talk about how they can be defeated. It’s a question they always ask me.<\/p>\n

“I’m not worried about that, I’m worried about being in the best shape possible. But if you’re asking if he’s beatable, then yes. Everybody is.”<\/p>\n

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As for whether Poga\u010dar could get even better or if he had reached a peak in his condition, Pidcock replied to MARCA<\/a>, “I don’t know. I’m not here to talk about Tadej.<\/p>\n

“Right now, I’m just thinking about what I can do in these races.”<\/p>\n

His interest in racing the Cl\u00e1sica Ja\u00e9n, he said, was partly because it adjusted to his own program – he has already raced in the Vuelta a Murcia and will continue in the Vuelta a Andalucia after Ja\u00e9n – and because of its similarity, too, to Stade Bianche.<\/p>\n

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“I think it’s the only one, it’s got similar terrain, it’s a very similar kind of event,” he reasoned. “I’m curious about it.”<\/p>\n

Pidcock’s pathway to what he hopes will be future success in other races has already gone through Spain, of course. Back in 2025, his third place in the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, his first in a Grand Tour, will, he said, push him on to fight for greater success in the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s more accessible now, after what I did last year. But the podium of the Tour is something very different. It’s a challenge we’re working on.”<\/p>\n

First, though, comes races like the Cl\u00e1sica de Ja\u00e9n, where he’ll be a candidate for its famous golden olive trophy on Monday. For now, at least, the Tour de France, not to mention Strade Bianche and facing Poga\u010dar for the first time in 2026, are still a long way off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rather than getting overly fixated on hypotheticals involving Tadej Poga\u010dar, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) has made it clear that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-427815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}