"Some teams need to start changing the rule book" - Tom Pidcock looks for alternative ways to balance things out at Milano-Sanremo

Milano-Sanremo is the most unpredictable of the five monuments in cycling, however even still, the former 'sprinters' monument' sees only two riders realistically seen as the potential winners: Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel. In a luxury field including Filippo Ganna, Wout Van Aert, Tom Pidcock and many more, there is the need to look for alternative tactics to realistically aim for the win. The latter shared his point of view ahead of the race.

In an interview with CyclingPro.net, the Briton puts his eyes on good positioning into the Cipressa. “Yeah, that’s what I hope. It was bad luck [last year], but you make your own luck. I was too far back into the Cipressa, I lost the wheel of Mark [Donovan], so that was kind of my fault.”

Pidcock is a lightweight rider and one who perhaps has modest support for the flat roads in comparison to the giants of UAE, Visma and the other top teams. It is a difficult task for him, whilst the climbs are also not perfectly suited to his attributes, as he prefers the steeper ascents.

Nevertheless the Briton carries great form into the Italian classic and he is an outsider for victory; specially taking into consideration the finale features two very technical descents where he can quite potentially put his rivals under a lot of pressure.

“You have to make your own luck, and little mistakes cost you the race here. So hopefully no mistakes tomorrow, and then we will see. But for sure, it’s going to be important into the Cipressa, I think.”

However even with his quality, Pidcock knows it is difficult to win Sanremo even in the ideal circumstances. Outclimbing someone like Pogacar or van der Poel here is very difficult; whilst outsprinting the Dutchman is also not too likely.

“Some teams need to start changing the rule book. Everyone thinks that to work for your teammates, you need to ride faster, so we’ll see if anyone tries to block the road on the Cipressa. That’s a good tactic if you're not Tadej," he laughed. Whilst jokingly, the alliance between some teams to make it hard for UAE or other teams to push the pace at the start of Cipressa could make it harder for the World Champion to then make the difference.

Nevertheless, Pidcock came into the race after a mid-week victory at Milano-Torino, where he beat Tobias Johannessen and Primoz Roglic on the difficult climb to Superga.

“For sure, it’s great that I could win this week coming into this race, I mean, as you say, it couldn’t be much better. It’s a little bit different tomorrow, but for sure it gives me some confidence.”