2024 Tour de Suisse's 42.5km stage 6 "a waste of time" according to Tom Pidcock
Cycling
Due to bad weather, stage 6 of the 2024 Tour de Suisse has been forced into a change. The result? 42 kilometres of full gas racing. All-in-all, virtually one hour of racing.
It's a novel stage for sure. Long enough to be considered for a time-trial challenge but ridden as a peloton and a first category climb towards the end but other than that, not much to test the riders. It's likely to either be a rest day on the bike mid-race, or one of the toughest days of the race if the riders take to it full gas from the start.
One of those riders who'll be in and amongst the drama of the day, will be INEOS Grenadiers' Tom Pidcock. It's fair to say that the Brit isn't totally enthusiastic about the idea of an hour long effort in a stage race however, despite his capabilities of such performances on the cyclocross circuit.
"You could compare it with a cross. The difference is that you won't have any bends to breathe for a while," says the 24-year-old, who sits 8th in the general classification, 2:46 down on compatriot Adam Yates in the fight for the Maillot Jaune, in comments collected by Het Nieuwsblad. "I think it's a pity that that big climb has been canceled. It could have been such a beautiful ride, now I think so. especially treacherous. It is not a rest day and it is not a full-fledged mountain ride. In fact, it is mainly a waste of time."
Despite the short, sharp nature of the day, make no mistake, the final ascent, despite looking small in the overall profile of the stage, is brutal and can also see meaningful gaps created amongst the general classification riders. With such short distances, it could also see interesting race dynamics or a few unexpected favourites who will benefit from the lack of overall difficulty in the day.
Why so sour Tom? Did you have something better planned? At some level bike racing and all sports are frivolous and unnecessary activities so could be regarded as a waste of time. But if that’s your view Tom, then at least 40 km “wastes” less time than a longer stage.
Pidcock is just a one day guy. I'm surprised he isn't happy with a short stage- it's as long as a cyclocross race.
All hail King Pidcock, the new king of cycling. He who decides what he will do in a race and all others shall obey
I'd go farther than Pidcock: The entire race is a waste of time and dope.
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- By the way, try to specify details a little deeper next time, I know lengthy text is unpopular but often it’s very useful, like to distinguish between a cobble having the effect of many little hills or a cobbled section :-)Mistermaumau13-04-2025
- Sorry thenMistermaumau13-04-2025
- They made the mistake of asking Kopecky to wait for Lorena and also work for her. Typical Sdworx fail. Kopecly should have been sole leader with Lorena playing foil like Vismaabstractengineer13-04-2025
- these french guys are such petty jealous whiners i can’t stand Madiot.mij13-04-2025
- More crying from a failing team boss with no winsCrashjames13-04-2025
- (I was really replying to the other person...) In Paris Roubaix, the bits with the cobbles are slower than the paved sections, so wind resistance is less than it otherwise would be on a "flat" road, though as I keep pointing out, these are equivalent to a bunch of little hills. While momentum will help one maintain velocity given resistances, you aren't taking into account that one had to get that extra mass up to speed in the first place, which costs more power. So, you do get back most of the extra power you've put in, but that's not helpful. The less rolling resistance (and climbing over the bumps) of less mass will always be more helpful than having more mass, all else held equal. Actually, this could be easily demonstrated with a cyclist on cobbles, 2 runs, start at the same velocity, do the same power, have a backpack full of foam on run 1, then full of rocks on run 2 (ensuring the PSI was perfected for both) and see which run went faster. And when we think about it, we know which one will be faster intuitively.acem8213-04-2025
- Yes, you did say that but what is the point of stating the obvious when obviously a lighter rider won’t be able to avoid reality which is that above a certain speed rolling resistance becomes insignificant compared to wind resistance, so it pragmatically all things being kept equal is irrelevant for them in their task. Momentum is what you’re left with after overcoming resistances, and that’s what going to help you keep up your speed except on a longer hill where weight will slow you faster.Mistermaumau13-04-2025
- Yes ok, but then what were the exact details then, did he cross the line, did his team not ask the stewards committee if they thought it was an exceptional case? He got the time but not the ranking, not even the last ranking, which suggests it was looked at and decided but explain why you feel it wasn’t right? There are only two cases it doesn’t apply, team time trials and summit finishes, so flat or not makes no difference.Mistermaumau13-04-2025
- Rolling resistance goes up with weight. Also, I did specify "all else held equal".acem8213-04-2025
- Even light rain is tricky as it has been dry since ages and the normal roads will be covered in smeary dust that won’t get washed off fast enough. Not sure how many of the cobbled sections are open to heavy traffic during the year so that’s a different problem.Mistermaumau13-04-2025