"Everyone will be looking at me" - Tom Pidcock aware that he is the man to beat on Siena's gravel stage

At last year's Tour de France Tom Pidcock headed into the breakaway on the gravel stage and sprinted to a second place. This time around at the Giro d'Italia he would never have the freedom to do the same, but instead - on the roads of Strade Bianche - he is the main favourite to take the win and is aware that those fighting for the stage will be covering him.

“Many riders and teams try to protect what they have. That makes it difficult to really make a difference in the race," Pidcock told Sporza. "Maybe it is more difficult for the intended favourites to win. You see that in the Tour with the gravel and cobblestone stages… That makes it difficult.”

In a Grand Tour, this type of stage is very different than in it's one-day format, and the main stories of the day will be those of the overall classification contenders. But that won't change much about his behaviour: "Today we have a full headwind and also some crosswind, so hopefully we can position ourselves well as a team. That way we can take advantage of those conditions to make the stage tough enough, so that I can really race in the final". 

“Everyone will be looking at me. We try to get a small breakaway going and keep them within range," the leader of Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team said in anticipation to what may be the biggest day of the race for the team.

And as for rivals, he mentions his former teammate: "Who do I keep an eye on? Egan Bernal and INEOS Grenadiers. They didn't attack yesterday and weren't dropped".