Pidcock Strikes Back — But Is Liège Already Out of Reach?

Tom Pidcock roared back into the winner’s circle, but it may be too late for Sunday’s epic clash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

With everyone talking about Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel, Pidcock might have been the most dangerous rival for Tadej Pogačar in the Ardennes on Sunday.

But with Liège looming this weekend, his return from injury comes too late.

Three weeks after a high-speed crash into a ravine at the Volta a Catalunya and a subsequent knee injury disrupted his spring, Pidcock won on Wednesday on instinct and class in a long-range sprint to take stage 3 at the Tour of the Alps.

“In my last race before the crash I was in top form, but today I found myself suffering at the back of the bunch, even dropped on the first climb. I had to change my mindset,” Pidcock said.

“When I got back on, and felt the legs responding better on the second climb, I told the team we’d go for the stage. Pulling it off felt amazing.”

Is there hope for a miracle Liège revival?

Probably not. He was gapped in Tuesday’s stage at the Tour of the Alps and told Domestique that Monday’s stage was one of the worst days he’s ever had on a bike, even if he finished second.

Too little, too late for Liège?

Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a six-hour, 259.5km race of attrition punctuated by searing accelerations on final-hour climbs that demands absolute peak condition.

So any rider clawing back after 10 days off the bike will have no chance against Pogačar, not even Pidcock.

“Compared with the first two days I can already feel the improvements,” he said. “Stage 1 was a real battle, one of the hardest days I’ve ever had on the bike. I came second, but that’s only part of the story.”

And that’s too bad.

Pidcock was on a tear this spring before his Catalunya crash on March 27.

And the Brit has done what only a handful of riders can claim in the modern era, and that’s drag the world No. 1 into the red on a hilly profile.

The Pinarello-Q36.5 star did it at Strade Bianche last season and again at Milan-San Remo last month, proving he’s one of the few who can truly challenge cycling’s most dominant force in the punchy one-day classics.

With Ben Healy also sidelined by a fractured sacrum and Matteo Jorgenson out with a broken clavicle, the Ardennes lose two other frontline contenders who could have made Pogi’s life a little more complicated.

Pogačar ripe for upset?

Everyone is talking about the blockbuster showdown between Pogačar, Seixas, and Evenepoel.

That level of star power is turning Liège into a must-see TV moment in what’s being hyped as a generational clash.

Pogačar lines up as the five-star favorite in the race that’s been his personal playground the past few seasons. The Slovenian’s won three out of his past four starts at La Doyenne, a his 2023 wrist injury seeing him post a rare DNF.

In the context of a monument distance, Pidcock could have been the ultimate spoiler even if the hype is all about the rise of Seixas.

While Pidcock’s trajectory is upward, Sunday may arrive too soon.

“With my injury and the time off, it’s been difficult. Coming back is very hard mentally,” Pidcock said. “Even the first time I was dropped, it was tough to deal with. So this win feels really nice.”

Pidcock will race Sunday after wrapping up the Tour of the Alps on Friday.

But against Pogačar at Liège, just being “back” might not be enough.

And after Pogačar lost to Wout van Aert at Paris-Roubaix, some are even believing that he might be ripe for an upset at Liège.

If that happens, it probably won’t come from Pidcock.