Tom Pidcock roared back into the winner\u2019s circle, but it may be too late for Sunday\u2019s epic clash at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n
With everyone talking about Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel, Pidcock might have been the most dangerous rival for Tadej Poga\u010dar in the Ardennes on Sunday.<\/p>\n
But with Li\u00e8ge looming this weekend, his return from injury comes too late.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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,\u201d Pidcock said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got back on, and felt the legs responding better on the second climb, I told the team we\u2019d go for the stage. Pulling it off felt amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is there hope for a miracle Li\u00e8ge revival?<\/p>\n
Probably not. He was gapped in Tuesday\u2019s stage at the Tour of the Alps and told Domestique<\/em> that Monday\u2019s stage was one of the worst days he\u2019s ever had on a bike, even if he finished second.<\/p>\n Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge is a six-hour, 259.5km race of attrition punctuated by searing accelerations on final-hour climbs that demands absolute peak condition.<\/p>\n So any rider clawing back after 10 days off the bike will have no chance against Poga\u010dar, not even Pidcock.<\/p>\n \u201cCompared with the first two days I can already feel the improvements,\u201d he said. \u201cStage 1 was a real battle, one of the hardest days I\u2019ve ever had on the bike. I came second, but that\u2019s only part of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s too bad.<\/p>\n Pidcock was on a tear this spring before his Catalunya crash on March 27.<\/p>\n And the Brit has done what only a handful of riders can claim in the modern era, and that\u2019s drag the world No. 1 into the red on a hilly profile.<\/p>\n The Pinarello-Q36.5 star did it at Strade Bianche last season and again at Milan-San Remo last month, proving he\u2019s one of the few who can truly challenge cycling\u2019s most dominant force in the punchy one-day classics.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s life a little more complicated.<\/p>\n Everyone is talking about the blockbuster showdown between Poga\u010dar, Seixas, and Evenepoel.<\/p>\n That level of star power is turning Li\u00e8ge into a must-see TV moment in what\u2019s being hyped as a generational clash.<\/p>\n Poga\u010dar lines up as the five-star favorite in the race that\u2019s been his personal playground the past few seasons. The Slovenian\u2019s won three out of his past four starts at La Doyenne<\/em>, a his 2023 wrist injury seeing him post a rare DNF.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n While Pidcock\u2019s trajectory is upward, Sunday may arrive too soon.<\/p>\n \u201cWith my injury and the time off, it\u2019s been difficult. Coming back is very hard mentally,\u201d Pidcock said. \u201cEven the first time I was dropped, it was tough to deal with. So this win feels really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Pidcock will race Sunday after wrapping up the Tour of the Alps on Friday.<\/p>\n But against Poga\u010dar at Li\u00e8ge, just being \u201cback\u201d might not be enough.<\/p>\n And after Poga\u010dar lost to Wout van Aert at Paris-Roubaix, some are even believing that he might be ripe for an upset at Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n If that happens, it probably won\u2019t come from Pidcock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/pidcock-liege-pogacar-seixas-injury-alps\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/horizpiddrs.jpg”] Andrew Hood Published April 23, 2026 03:20AM Tom Pidcock roared back into the winner\u2019s circle, but it may be too late for Sunday\u2019s epic clash at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. With everyone talking about Paul Seixas and Remco Evenepoel, Pidcock might have been the most dangerous rival for Tadej Poga\u010dar in the Ardennes on Sunday. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1900602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1900602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1900602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1900602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1900602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1900602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1900602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Too little, too late for Li\u00e8ge?<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2267267445-2-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Poga\u010dar ripe for upset?<\/h2>\n
![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2268657446-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")