After World Cup XCO win Tom Pidcock steps up Tour de France preparation with ride home from Barcelona airport to Andorra
Cycling
Tom Pidcock continued to prove his multi-discipline prowess over the weekend as he secured an incredible fourth successive World Cup XCO victory Nove Mesto. Clearly not fully content with the efforts he'd needed to win however, the Brit continued his ride afterwards.
After flying back from the Czech Republic to Barcelona airport, the 24-year-old Mountain Bike world champion took on another epic bike ride to his home in Andorra. Showcasing his plan, Pidcock posted an image to his official Instagram story of himself on the bike, with the caption "Time to ride home. BCN > Andorra."
"Once I got going I got to the front and was able to find my own pace. That was important on this track - it's so many lines and every lap I was just taking a different line to be honest everywhere," reflected Pidcock post-race to the INEOS Grenadiers website. "I can be quite pleased with that for my first race of the year. When I'm putting big hours in on the road it's quite different to coming here and smashing it for an hour and a half. I think I can be pretty pleased with that."
With another appearance at the Tour de France on the upcoming calendar for Pidcock, he is planned for a return to the road on the 9th of June at the Tour de Suisse. Having already taken a big victory earlier this spring at the Amstel Gold Race, Pidcock is expected to again attempt to prove himself as a potential Grand Tour general classification challenger after finishing 16th and 13th overall at the last two editions of the Tour de France.
Nove Mesto World Cup XCO 2024 Results:
| 01 | PIDCOCK Tom | 01:21:41 |
| 02 | SCHURTER Nino | + 32 |
| 03 | GUERRINI Marcel | + 44 |
| 04 | ALDRIDGE Charlie | + 46 |
| 05 | AZZARO Mathis | + 46 |
| 06 | FLÜCKIGER Mathias | + 59 |
| 07 | SCHWARZBAUER Luca | + 01:04 |
| 08 | HOLMGREN Gunnar | + 01:13 |
| 09 | HATHERLY Alan | + 01:15 |
| 10 | FORSTER Lars | + 01:29 |
That race must have been one heck of an early one if after he managed to do all the post race interviews, cool down, showering, go to the airport for a very convenient flight (hopefully not a private jet?) to get to BCN in time for doing a 225km ride. Hope he had his lights with him and someone packed his picnic and prepared supper coz, there’d be no time to stop for a meal on the way. If he managed all that, the organisation merits more respect than the ride itself.
For a rider that has ambitions to do GC at TDF, this is not good training. He is most likely following the G template. He will most likely again flop in the Third week if he does GC. It would be better if stage wins were the target considering olympic ambitions in MTB
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