"In these stages where anything can go wrong" - Tom Pidcock

Tom Pidcock is yet to race Paris-Roubaix, and he will have a taste of the cobbles of northern France in an unusual way today, with a very complicated and crucial day for him and INEOS Grenadiers' GC ambitions at the Tour de France.

“From what I’ve learned and been told already, in these stages where anything can go wrong, you need to be as conservative as possible if you ride for the GC. So first and foremost, we need to try and keep safe those riders for the GC," Pidcock told VeloNews.

“It’s not designed in a way to create big gaps and have the racing start. The first section will split the race up and cause a bit of carnage, and then we have a long time to reset," he added. Sure enough, with almost 20 kilometers of cobbled sectors, adding to the furious kilometers of riding into the sectors which will be a common occurence to all, will make for a very dangerous day.

"So I don’t know. It’s better than riding along on the front with six different teams and drag racing. That’s crap, innit?” he joked.