"I’ve been working hard on my time trial, so I want to do a good time trial" - Tom Pidcock pays extra attention to the final time trial of Volta ao Algarve

As expected, the opening stage of Volta ao Algarve was not of those that could win you the race, but one could lose it there if taken lightly. Luckily for Tom Pidcock, he managed through safely and thus the INEOS Grenadiers rider can shift his focus to the two uphill finishes and individual time trial which will be decisive for the race.

"I felt exactly the same as last year. It was really easy but really hard. It’s not just riding along, you’ve got to sprint out of corners. I almost died on the last descent and I didn’t crash. So it was alright," he told GCN afterwards.

"There were a few crashes. There was one with around 3km to go and then one just before the final roundabout. I think that me and Remco just got through there."

"I’ve been working hard on my time trial, so I want to do a good time trial. That’s important and then I want to win the last stage again. Like I did last year," he said. "I’ve spent a lot of time on it. It’s the one discipline where you can’t skimp on it. If you want to do well on the time trial bike then you need to spend time on it. I’ve done a lot of training sessions on it, and we’ve done a few sessions on the velodrome. We rode the TT course yesterday, Tuesday, and we’ll see how it goes."