"He's a competitor and a world champion so of course you respect that and you wait" - Tom Pidcock explains his thoughts after Tadej Pogacar's Strade Bianche crash

Tom Pidcock said pre-race he'd try to follow Tadej Pogacar's inevitable attack at Strade Bianche and on Saturday afternoon in Tuscany the Brit gave it an almighty go. Despite the best efforts of the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team leader and even a scary crash for Pogacar at 50km to go though, victory eventually went the way of the all-conquering world champion.

"I'm quite tired to be honest," admits Pidcock with a wry smile when addressing the assembled media post-race. "I wanted to try and win, but I think I did a good performance let's be honest. I came pretty close."

As mentioned, a key flashpoint during the race was Pogacar's crash at 50km to go, an incident that momentarily left Pidcock solo in the race lead. "Let's be honest, it gave me a bit more of an opportunity. But he was still too strong with this last attack of his and yeah, I'm happy, but at the same time disappointed."

Despite ultimately missing out on the win, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic for Pidcock following this second place. "I don't think anyone else has followed Tadej yet this year! Okay, he's only done one race but also last year and the Tour de France," smiles the Brit. "So yeah, I'm happy. That's a good step. But of course, in the end he still attacked and rode off. So it's bittersweet."

"When he crashed I carried on, I didn't know what was happening," Pidcock continues, going into more detail on that crazy few kilometres. "But then he got back on the bike, looked like he was coming back and so, of course I waited. He's a competitor and a world champion so of course you respect that and you wait. He made a mistake and this is not how you take advantage in a race. Of course it was also a long way to go! So I didn't want to ride that far on my own."