Tom Pidcock's GC dream has not ended in this Tour de France but took a hit on stage 14. As Jumbo-Visma pushed the pace very high all day long, the explosive Tom Pidcock had little in his legs when he crossed the line almost nine minutes after teammate Carlos Rodríguez as he slips out of the Top10.
“It's a real shame. I was confident before the start and even dreamed of an attack on the Col de Joux Plane. It was just a full race all day and I just didn't have the legs," Pidcock said in an interview with CyclingWeekly. "We have yet to evaluate it, but I think I didn't have enough energy. We didn't finish until late on Friday and so we couldn't get to the table until late. I just haven't eaten enough. It was a really tricky situation.”
The tough logistics and off-the-bike challenge that is the Tour took the best of the Briton, he says. In rising form, on both Puy de Dôme and Grand Colombier Pidcock put in terrific performances which saw him finish fourth and third out of the GC riders on the respective days. His climbing performances bring back the potential he showed as an under-23 rider, and he is testing himself in a bid for the GC, perhaps gauging if it's possible to aim at a Grand Tour victory in the future.
However yesterday he fell back from the peloton on the penultimate climb of the day, and unable to get back, he then shed multiple minutes all the way into the line in Morzine. “I was completely overcooked, cooked," Pidcock shares. "I decided to turn off my radio. It wasn't until I got to the bus that I heard that Carlos had won the stage. That makes the day a little better.” The INEOS Grenadiers rider fell from 8th to 11th in the overall classification now over 14 minutes down on Tadej Pogacar, but his teammate and stage winner Carlos Rodríguez jumped into the podium.
The race was neutralised after a large crash after 6km of stage 14. @OmarFraile, @danifmartinez96 and @TomPidcock were affected, but are all back on their bikes as we get back underway. We hope everyone is ok, speedy recovery to those injured 🙏 #TDF2023
