Tom Pidcock Back in Tour Podium Battle After Bittersweet Time Gain

Number thirteen: it’s lucky for some. Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) will certainly like it a bit more after his huge gains on today’s Tour de France stage.

On stage 13 into Belfort, the all-action, multi-discipline star launched himself back into the race GC conversation, gaining 7:30 on the other contenders with a clever ambush.

In the process, the Briton surged from tenth to finish the day fourth overall, 4:15 down on the yellow jersey. He was the biggest beneficiary from the 57-rider mega-break of the day.

Post-race, he could not hide his disappointment at narrowly missing out on stage victory, which went to Jayco-Alula rider Mauro Schmid.

“I’m ambitious, I want to try and win. That’s the main thing,” the Olympic mountain bike champion told media afterwards.

His feelings were “bittersweet. I guess a lot of positives, but I came here to try and get a stage.”

“Close again, third again [after his stage 9 finish]. Obviously, we took a lot of time on GC and I got a gold number [for the combativity prize], so it’s not all bad.”

Pidcock’s giant leap in GC game of snakes and ladders

Certainly not. Having lost 8:18 to stage winner Tadej Pogačar on stage six to Gavarnie-Gèdre, up and over the Col du Tourmalet, he is in contention again.

“I’m back in the game. At the Vuelta [where he finished third], I was getting better in the race. First week I was also getting dropped and losing time, but it’s all to play for.”

“I’m straight back in there with the podium fight, but I know realistically in the time-trial [on stage 16], I’m going to lose a lot. Now I’m on an equal playing field, we’ll see what the next days bring.” Pidcock believes a top 10 finish is “very realistic” now.

He found it difficult being without a teammate in the decisive group of ten which contested the stage victory after the first-category climb of the Ballon d’Alsace.

“Everyone was jumping and I was looking at Team UAE Emirates-XRG. They were the dangerous ones, they had nothing to lose. They were sat in all day,” he said.

Schmid and Harold Tejada (XDS Astana Team) slipped away and Pidcock rued a missed opportunity.

The Wright stuff

Nevertheless, Pidcock was very happy with how underdog team Pinarello-Q36.5, one of the few non-WorldTour teams competing, raced. Fred Wright, Quinten Hermans and Xandro Maurisse drove the pace for him and helped to grow the group’s advantage.

“We were making a big impact, dictating the race today,” Pidcock said.

Speaking to Velo after the finish, his teammate Fred Wright called it a “dream scenario”, which was almost exactly what they had hoped for pre-stage.

“It helped as well with the bonus sprint that Alpecin didn’t want the Mads [Pedersen] group to come to us, so that just kept the impetus in the group,” he said. “We just rode so hard into that climb of the Ballon d’Alsace.”

Such a large break getting up the road and gaining such time, especially with Pidcock there, went against a lot of conventional cycling wisdom and expectation.

Wright was not particularly surprised at the group’s advantage, which he felt was earned rather than “given” lightly by the bunch.

“To be honest, I think we were just riding really hard. I don’t understand cycling either sometimes,” he said, smiling. “All you can do is ride at the front and do your job.”