Tom 'Pidders' Pidcock

[Strawberry_Jams]

Struggled today. Not expecting much on Sunday.

I think it's a case of if he's recovered he'll be great. he should be better than today anyway...he won't win but if everything pans out well he should be in the group behind what will inevitably be a remco/pog duo/solo....

I think everyone (including himself) is expecting more all the time. but he is 23 and will only get stronger in the next 5/10 years. consistancy will improve with age as well. there is only one pog.

 

[Red Rick]

Lol if you see how he gets over the finish you can basically see he couldn't even be arsed in the final 100m.

If you see how he was going before he got boxed in you don't move like that when you're close to dropping and squeezing out that last tiny bit.

 

[Gwbert]

I think it's a case of if he's recovered he'll be great. he should be better than today anyway...he won't win but if everything pans out well he should be in the group behind what will inevitably be a remco/pog duo/solo....

I think everyone (including himself) is expecting more all the time. but he is 23 and will only get stronger in the next 5/10 years. consistancy will improve with age as well. there is only one pog.

He can always go and take out his frustration on the mtb too

 

[tobydawq]

Lol if you see how he gets over the finish you can basically see he couldn't even be arsed in the final 100m.

If you see how he was going before he got boxed in you don't move like that when you're close to dropping and squeezing out that last tiny bit.

I really think that he around 300 metres before the line spent his last energy after already having lost positions because he couldn't keep up with the pace. Otherwise, why would he have drifted back before that point when there was noone to squeeze (especially megasqueeze) him?

 

[postmanhat]

It seems like he doesn't stand much of a chance if Pogacar/MVDP/WVA and likely Evenepoel are racing. It might be a case of in another generation, he'd be winning everything, but there're too many generational talents racing now. Maybe his peak is yet to come? What're his chances for the rest of the season? I can only see him winning stages. How well do we think he'd be doing if he concentrated 100% of his efforts on the road, rather than dabbling in XC and CX?

MVDP hasn't ridden an MTB race since the Olympics and might not do so again until towards the end of his career? Pidcock's the only one trying to do all three at the highest level, and MTB is the one he's best at and likes the most. His main goal this year is the MTB worlds, and I imagine, retaining his Olympic title next year.

After that, he'll have to sacrifice one or both of MTB or CX to focus on the road, and then we'll begin to see what he's really capable of. He's done enough to convince me that he'll be an elite GC rider and hopefully we'll see a bit more evidence of that at the TDS and Tour this year. But as you say, in the age of Pog and Evenepoel, his timing could be better.

 

[IndurainsTdF1994]

2nd at the Tour of Britain, as his best gc result, screams of eliteness. Sure, the guy's been busy.

He will remain a strong classics rider and maybe even win a monument. But that's it.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Im not into him being a GC-contender either, but he will get his chance this year given that Ineos don't really have a reliable leader at TdF. So its not like we will have to see him slave for a couple of years.

I see him as a classics rider as well who can contest a variety of races, pretty much every one day classic outside of Roubaix.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

MVDP hasn't ridden an MTB race since the Olympics and might not do so again until towards the end of his career? Pidcock's the only one trying to do all three at the highest level, and MTB is the one he's best at and likes the most. His main goal this year is the MTB worlds, and I imagine, retaining his Olympic title next year.

I'm guessing he'll ride on the MTB until 2024, that gives him 2 more chances for the XCO World title, and to defend the Olympic title - of all the disciplines, he's best suited to the MTB; the light weight with decent power is potent on XCO courses.

He'll probably then dedicate himself to the road for the time being, with maybe a very short CX season as a supplement to his training,

 

[OlavEH]

2nd at the Tour of Britain, as his best gc result, screams of eliteness. Sure, the guy's been busy.

He will remain a strong classics rider and maybe even win a monument. But that's it.

Well, he did win the Girobio in 2020. And that after winning all mountain stages, including a Mortirolo stage. So the talent is there, but it more of a matter of how he chooses to prioritize. Even though both Van der Poel and especially Pog and Van Aert are uniquely versatile, Pidcock is even more so if you include the results from U23 racing. Winning as different races as Girobio and Paris-Roubaix U23. And as a senior Olympics MTB gold, Worlds CX, Strade Bianche, only losing by an inch to Van Aert in AGR and winning on Alpe d'Huez in the Tour.

The talent is great, it's only a matter of priority. Right now both MTB and CX seems very important to him. Hopefully he will be fully comittede to road racing in the future.

 

[Pinot's goat]

2nd at the Tour of Britain, as his best gc result, screams of eliteness. Sure, the guy's been busy.

He will remain a strong classics rider and maybe even win a monument. But that's it.

Pidcock has only ridden 7 stage races.

1. Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du var which was his first race as a pro.
2. Vuelta immediately after Olympic gold partying.
3. Algarve DNF
4. Suisse DNF covid
5. ToB 2nd place
6. TDF 16th place
7. Algarve 7th place

This is not enough to decide whether he will be a GC man. The results he has so far actually suggests he has the potential to be a GC man.

 

[JRanton]

Struggled today. Not expecting much on Sunday.

Much better than I expected to be fair. Still has a huge gap to close on the ‘mutants’ but at least he lasted the distance today.

 

[Red Rick]

Strong resilience to get 2nd after getting dropped to be honest.

Evenepoel flying away behind the motor looked ridiculous but it would've happened sooner or later anyway considering Pidcock got dropped from the chasing group as well.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Consolation

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Just like in CX, first among mortals looks like his ceiling for the foreseeable future. At least the stagnation in his development seems to be a thing of the past.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Consolation

Now I wanna make a Little Britain style video with Pidders and Mr. doggy

View: https://youtu.be/NCZdNzTDRGg

 

[SafeBet]

Clearly born 10 years late to build a big palmares in the Classics, but there will always be a Monument or an important race where none of the aliens is riding (or at 100%, like Strade Bianche). He can still win a lot if he keeps improving. And let's see if he's got some stage races in him.

 

[Bolder]

Just like in CX, first among mortals looks like his ceiling for the foreseeable future. At least the stagnation in his development seems to be a thing of the past.

First among mortals is pretty good these days. He's a real scrapper and still has quite a kick even when obviously really tired.

 

[Didinho]

Amstel 3th, after going deep behind Pogi.
Fleche 18th, not recovered.
Liege 2nd, behind Remco.

Not so bad at all after his impressive Strade win. He will get his chances for the win on a super day. He also said he was better recovered for Liege so his performance would be better here. So we could believe what he says before a race, always honest.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Is it true that Ineos wants to turn him into a gc rider (after the Olympics)?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Is it true that Ineos wants to turn him into a gc rider (after the Olympics)?

Has there ever been a rider with potential on Ineos that they haven‘t tried to convert into a GC rider?

 

[Monte Serra]

Has there ever been a rider with potential on Ineos that they haven‘t tried to convert into a GC rider?

Kwiatkowski?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Has there ever been a rider with potential on Ineos that they haven‘t tried to convert into a GC rider?

Kwaitkowski got turned into a pure workhorse for a few years, but that's about it.

 

[Didinho]

Kwiatkowski?

Wasn't he one of the co-leaders in a Paris Nice edition and became 2nd? Was his best climbing performance (that I can remember).

 

[Red Rick]

Opportunity cost for trying Tour GC for a year isn't that terrible.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Opportunity cost for trying Tour GC for a year isn't that terrible.

Nope, its quite common to race hard in the classics even if going for TdF. I imagine you just focus a bit more on the Ardennes side of things which he already should anyways since hes better here and the only cobbles he can win is E-3 and Flanders which requires a ton of luck for him.