“It was entirely Tom’s own choice” - Ian Stannard on Tom Pidcock skipping the cobbled Classics
Cycling
Having taken eighth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, fourth at Strade Bianche and eleventh at Milano-Sanremo already this season, Tom Pidcock looked set for a strong Spring Classics campaign. However, the British rider will not be taking part in any of the cobbled Classics this season, as he is set to skip both the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.
Pidcock is choosing instead to focus on Itzulia Basque Country and the Ardennes Classics next month. INEOS Grenadiers sports director Ian Stannard said in an interview with In de Leiderstrui that “it was entirely Tom’s own choice to skip the Flemish classics this year. He just chose to do the things he wanted to do. I also suspect that he thrives better on paved and high-altitude climbs than on cobblestone climbs”.
In Pidcock’s absence, several other riders are set to be given opportunities in the upcoming races, with the Flemish ‘Holy Week’ currently upon us ahead of the Ronde van Vlaanderen at the end of next week.
On which riders could make the step up into a leadership role within the team, Stannard said “our team has many young, strong riders who also have good credentials. They might not be the top favourites, but they are certainly formidable outsiders. If everything goes well, they definitely have a chance. This applies to the more experienced guys in the team too. Especially Ben Turner and Connor Swift, but also Magnus Sheffield are important trump cards”.
Read also
claps 0visitors 0
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
Loading
It's a tremendous late attack from @tompidcock that falls just short as he is caught agonisingly close to the line by the chasing group in a thrilling finale 👊 Chapeau Jasper Philipsen who takes the sprint to win #MilanoSanremo 👏
Write a comment