Tom 'Pidders' Pidcock

[tobydawq]

He attacked once while Kwiato was solo at the front, but eventually that hasn't changed anything and apart from that he was behaving like a decent teammate.

Kwiato wasn't solo at the time, to be fair.

 

[limak_]

OK ... it sounded like the opposite, but perhaps just one mistake. Was it a big attack or did he reign it in quick?

It was a siginificant acceleration, but he let it go quite quickly when he realised he had passengers on his wheel.

Kwiato wasn't solo at the time, to be fair.

Yes, you're right. I couldn't recall if he was solo or already with Cosnefroy at that moment.

 

[tobydawq]

It was a siginificant acceleration, but he let it go quite quickly when he realised he had passengers on his wheel.



Yes, you're right. I couldn't recall if he was solo or already with Cosnefroy at that moment.

If Kwiatkowski was solo, it would have been unforgiveable

But I guess he hoped to go solo and make a bridge up to the front duo like Cosnefroy had done.

 

[limak_]

If Kwiatkowski was solo, it would have been unforgiveable

But I guess he hoped to go solo and make a bridge up to the front duo like Cosnefroy had done.

He had no chance in a sprint for second in a group with guys like MvdP or Matthews, but still had some power in the legs, then why not 1-2 Ineos? So even if Kwiato had been solo at that moment, I'm not that sure that he wouldn't have attacked anyway

 

[SafeBet]

The big mistake was not following Cosnefroy, which I think he had the legs to do. Luckily Kwiatkowski won the sprint a deux.
To me he's still tactically clueless at times.

 

[limak_]

The big mistake was not following Cosnefroy, which I think he had the legs to do. Luckily Kwiatkowski won the sprint a deux.
To me he's still tactically clueless at times.

Exactly. If you have a teammate at the front you're supposed to cover every single move. And I actually think he attacked as soon as he realised he made a mistake of letting Cosnefroy go (whose acceleration was, btw, brutal as he joined Kwiato in the blink of an eye) and this was kind of his response for that.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Not too bright yesterday. Should have shut down cosnefroy or at least went with him. After that he almost brought the chase back to Kwiat and nearly slingshot Teuns to the front.

But at least he has some advice for Pogacar.

 

[postmanhat]

Hopefully one benefit of this disastrous spring will be a big re-think of the rest of the season. It always was insane that he was due to start his second GT soon, when he still hasn't ridden a shorter WT stage race. In fact, he's only ever participated in two Pro level stage races, and one of them was four years ago.

No point in going to The Giro now. Just let him ride Suisse or Dauphine and then focus on the MTB and Road Worlds.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

He must be still carrying the effects of whatever he had; he was in long sleeves the other day in Fleche, before retiring from the race. Going to the Giro doesn't seem to be the best option at the moment - but who knows.

 

[SafeBet]

Yeah disappointing classic campaign all things considered. There were some fine performances but overall he always lacked that extra bit which was there last year. I don't know much about his physical problems. If he hasn't fully recovered doesn't make sense to ride the Giro (for him and for the team).

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

well there is talk of him going to the tour instead isn't there...and he posted a video of him on his mtb in the week so we can assume he's not going to the Giro (which should never have happened in the first place), but I also think he shouldn't go to the tour this year...concentrate on the mtb worlds.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Yeah disappointing classic campaign all things considered. There were some fine performances but overall he always lacked that extra bit which was there last year. I don't know much about his physical problems. If he hasn't fully recovered doesn't make sense to ride the Giro (for him and for the team).

Pidcock to the Giro is so stupid. They are supporting Carapaze. So send 7 riders to support him and protect him. Porte, TGH, puccio, Swift, Sivakov, Castrovejo, narvaez. Pidcock gets nothing out if the Giro and neither do ineos

 

[Bonimenier]

He did a recon of the cobbles stage of this year's Tour today with Kwiat so one would guess Giro is off the table.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He did a recon of the cobbles stage of this year's Tour today with Kwiat so one would guess Giro is off the table.

I think his current form left little to the imagination.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Arguably the biggest disappointment of the season so far. And I don't even know what he can do to salvage his season. There's only one major goal left: Worlds. So I guess winning that would make his season a succes, but anything less a failure.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Two (possibly three) Worlds are left; first the MTB Worlds in Les Gets (XCC/ XCO) and Road Worlds in Australia. If he gets over whatever is holding him back then we know he can peak for the big occasion. His results don't look great, but there is a reason why, so I wouldn't be too worried yet.

 

[Bolder]

I wonder about some kind of training issue. He trained hard, obviously, for the Olympics, then apparently took a fair amount of time off, then resumed training for CX through the WC, then he seemed to get sick -- but as usual we didn't really learn the details.

He might want to do a reset between now and MTB Worlds in late August. I don't think he should do the Tour unless he has great shape, but I guess we won't know if he can recover throughout a 3-week race in his current form unless he tries it...but his spring has clearly not gone well at all...very odd loss of form/illness for someone I thought would be among the Top 5 riders this spring.

 

[postmanhat]

As anticipated, he's been withdrawn from the Giro start list. Can 't see how the Tour fits in with peaking for the MTB and then Road worlds? But I suspect riding one GT a year is in his agreement with Ineos with regard to their flexibility to his other disciplines?

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Entered for the MTB XC World Cup in Albstadt this weekend.

 

[Ricco']

I honestly think he's racing too much for a guy who has had one/two periods of illnesses during the spring and hasn't shown any shape in FW and LBL. He went from the CX World Championships in USA to Algarve in two weeks time and after that almost no rest in between. If he's doing this World Cups and the Tour, or rests in the end of may/beginning of june (which I think is when he should be training more to be in shape for the Tour) or I think he severely risks his end of season goals.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I honestly think he's racing too much for a guy who has had one/two periods of illnesses during the spring and hasn't shown any shape in FW and LBL. He went from the CX World Championships in USA to Algarve in two weeks time and after that almost no rest in between. If he's doing this World Cups and the Tour, or rests in the end of may/beginning of june (which I think is when he should be training more to be in shape for the Tour) or I think he severely risks his end of season goals.

Yep. Last year it seemed they were managing him very carefully, and he had some great spring classic results, was great in the summer (MTB successes) and strong at the WCC as well. This year he's been going from subpar to terrible. He got dropped in San Remo like a brick, but at that point i was thinking it was planned, especially considering he had been sick. But it never really got better. I guess he was ok/good at DDV, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel, but very underwhelming generally. At least i expected more after last year, when (even if he only won 1 race) he looked to be evolving into one of the peloton's favorites. So i'm wondering, did they completely drop the ball with his illness, or did they drop the ball with his schedule? Or both?

 

[CHGJ2000]

Yep. Last year it seemed they were managing him very carefully, and he had some great spring classic results, was great in the summer (MTB successes) and strong at the WCC as well. This year he's been going from subpar to terrible. He got dropped in San Remo like a brick, but at that point i was thinking it was planned, especially considering he had been sick. But it never really got better. I guess he was ok/good at DDV, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel, but very underwhelming generally. At least i expected more after last year, when (even if he only won 1 race) he looked to be evolving into one of the peloton's favorites. So i'm wondering, did they completely drop the ball with his illness, or did they drop the ball with his schedule? Or both?

He got dropped at San Remo because he had extremely bad stomach issues (had to do a Dumoulin at the side of the road), definitely wasn't planned or at all relating to his physiological ability beyond that. The answer to the final question is probably neither. Schedule is going to make exactly zero difference if you can't consume an adequate amount of carbohydrate during races without getting sick and whether an illness is fixed is not necessarily under the control of the athlete or the team around them (or will get better by not racing). In the end his presence won them Amstel and Brabantse Pijl, so even though it was a disappointing campaign, the team got a fair amount out of him.

Also, I'd imagine he'll be fine on the MTB given the fairly limited amount of gels/fluid consumed in XCO races and zero in XCC.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He got dropped at San Remo because he had extremely bad stomach issues (had to do a Dumoulin at the side of the road), definitely wasn't planned or at all relating to his physiological ability beyond that. The answer to the final question is probably neither. Schedule is going to make exactly zero difference if you can't consume an adequate amount of carbohydrate during races without getting sick and whether an illness is fixed is not necessarily under the control of the athlete or the team around them (or will get better by not racing). In the end his presence won them Amstel and Brabantse Pijl, so even though it was a disappointing campaign, the team got a fair amount out of him.

Also, I'd imagine he'll be fine on the MTB given the fairly limited amount of gels/fluid consumed in XCO races and zero in XCC.

I don't know if his presence really won them Amstel. It actually nearly cost them Amstel with that stupid attack of his. But i agree that he was relatively strong there.
As for my question regarding his schedule, resting would have had no positive effect on his condition? Starting a different rider in the races where he underperformed couldn't have benefited the team in any other way?

 

[yaco]

Pidcock performed at an exceptional level in 2021 for a first year pro, so it's no surprise that his level has stagnated in year two - In saying that it's still a damn good level and he likely to progress in the next two or three years.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Well yes, but there are reasons why he hasn't quite done as well. Is he over these issues? It will be interesting to see. Short Track tonight shouldn't give him any problems, but they are raced full on from the start.