Tom 'Pidders' Pidcock

[Netserk]

I'm long Pidcock. I believe he will continue to steadily improve, and I think he is likely to podium a GT in a few years.

 

[Netserk]

I can see that he will ride Itzulia this year instead of the cobbles. Great!

Time to win one of the Ardennes classics.

 

[Salvarani]

I can see that he will ride Itzulia this year instead of the cobbles. Great!

Time to win one of the Ardennes classics.

Agree, and he already sort of did

 

[awavey]

And he finishes 6th, so did better than last year.

I get the impression teams use races like this as just extended training blocks now for future goals, so they're almost setup not to be that spectacular, but solid.

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

And he finishes 6th, so did better than last year.

I get the impression teams use races like this as just extended training blocks now for future goals, so they're almost setup not to be that spectacular, but solid.

Also a much harder race this year in terms of stronger riders but also the way it was ridden.

 

[will-10]

writing off the season in February is very CN-forumlike behaviour, dunno why we expect anything less

 

[Peter von]

writing off the season in February is very CN-forumlike behaviour, dunno why we expect anything less

tbf on reddit or many other forums I've been to it would be his entire career written off at this point.

 

[frisenfruitig]

And he finishes 6th, so did better than last year.

I get the impression teams use races like this as just extended training blocks now for future goals, so they're almost setup not to be that spectacular, but solid.

That's not an impression, that is exactly what it is. It's a warm-up race. Especially for the big boys.

 

[stonerider]

In road racing, Pidcock is not like Pog. Pog can show up at 90% and win races and keep that form all year long. Pidcock has to be at his absolute peak to win a big race on the road. You will see Pidcock struggle through races and then get that road win...and after that his road form falls off again. That said, I don't see Pidcock as a grand tour winner as he's not able to hold a peak for long. On the MTB it is another story where Pidcock seems to be able to win at will.

 

[JRanton]

An unspectacular start to his season.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Piddlers condition today was alright, he just has to massively fight the bike riding over the stones and wastes about twice as much energy doing it, shouldn't bother with cobbled classics and should just focus on the Ardennes which he excels at.

Ineos should ride for Turner in the later races, who was doing a lot of the dom work today riding the front of the group.

 

[Bolder]

Piddlers condition today was alright, he just has to massively fight the bike riding over the stones and wastes about twice as much energy doing it, shouldn't bother with cobbled classics and should just focus on the Ardennes which he excels at.

Ineos should ride for Turner in the later races, who was doing a lot of the dom work today riding the front of the group.

He seemed a little undercooked, to be honest.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He seemed a little undercooked, to be honest.

He claimed he was better in Algarve than last year, just that the competition was much better than last year. However, his climbing time up Malhao was much slower than last year when he won.

 

[yaco]

I reckon he can win Amstel Gold this year. I am convinced the reduced cyclocross competitions will give him a better preparation.

 

[armchairclimber]

As usual, Tom can be relied upon for a good post race assessment. "WTF" And what would yuo say to Pogar? "WTF".

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF3KxWJp2DQ

 

[JRanton]

Looked quite strong at the end but Pog is from a different planet.

 

[armchairclimber]

It's a shame they have edited that clipdown to remove the swearing. There was definitely some distaste in his tone. He was more or less saying "I don't know what to say about that really". I mean, he's a former winner of the race and multiple world/olympic champion and he's getting left for dead by someone who looks like he's out for a training ride. He must be really looking forward to the TdeF.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

It's a shame they have edited that clipdown to remove the swearing. There was definitely some distaste in his tone. He was more or less saying "I don't know what to say about that really". I mean, he's a former winner of the race and multiple world/olympic champion and he's getting left for dead by someone who looks like he's out for a training ride. He must be really looking forward to the TdeF.

His 'What the F***' remarks probably signalled something to discuss in the Clinic

 

[Salvarani]

Pidders doesn't seem amused.

Maybe if he focuses on one thing and training in the winter for the road he can challenge.

 

[Salvarani]

Doubt it. Doing CX in winter hasn't stopped MvdP at all for example.

Don't think anyone in the world can challenge Pogacar at Strade, I think he's mostly just mad they all got humiliated like that.

Comparing what works for MVDP is a mistake. He is quite unique as well.

Agreed.

 

[Salvarani]

I just don't think Pidcock has the physiological talent to compete with the best road riders. He'd make a world class Ardennes specialist in a bygone era.

He seems too small to have good engine/endurance for long, attritional races and he doesn't seem to have the pure aerobic ability of a top class climber either.

Perhaps, but he is still the best of the rest currently,

 

[Netserk]

His 'What the F***' remarks probably signalled something to discuss in the Clinic

He just has a potty mouth. I almost can't remember any interview with him without similar language.

 

[armchairclimber]

He just has a potty mouth. I almost can't remember any interview with him without similar language.

No filter. I like that. I mean, it's pretty much what I was thinking as I watched it (the Pogacar performance).

 

[stonerider]

Tom will always struggle against the best. He doesn't have the power of his similarly aged peers: Tadej, Jonas, and Remco. It's a waste of talent for Ineos to try to turn Pidcock into a 3 week grand tour competitor unless the toppers in the sport are not on the start line. He just doesn't have it. Tadej dropped him yesterday just with seated power...something Tom doesn't have.

He will always be great on the MTB though because of his bike handling skills.

 

[Bolder]

Tom will always struggle against the best. He doesn't have the power of his similarly aged peers: Tadej, Jonas, and Remco. It's a waste of talent for Ineos to try to turn Pidcock into a 3 week grand tour competitor unless the toppers in the sport are not on the start line. He just doesn't have it. Tadej dropped him yesterday just with seated power...something Tom doesn't have.

He will always be great on the MTB though because of his bike handling skills.

Agree on raw power.

But he's done pretty well in big races when those guys and a few others like Mvdp weren't there. And he sort of beat Wout in Amstel. He has a few special skills like descending and the ability to ride for a long time at a strong pace.

All that said, there have been times where he's underperformed, including yesterday and on the Joux Plan Tour stage, that surprised me.