"They did a perfect race" - Tom Pidcock best of the rest but could only watch as UAE blasted through Murcia crosswinds
CyclingFriday, 13 February 2026 at 16:23
Tom Pidcock made his season debut this afternoon at the Vuelta a Murcia and has shown a very high level right from the start. However, he could only fight for a place on the podium as he and all other teams were outplayed by UAE Team Emirates - XRG.
The stage was cut due to the strong winds in the region and right from the start there were plenty attacks and splits. Q36.5 had Quentin Hermans in the front group of 10, which had three UAE and Movistar riders, but it was a coincidence only.
"I think a big problem today was that our radios were a little bit [bad]," Pidcock said in a post-race interview. "And then when Tim [Wellens] attacked I was having a gel, and I was a bit late and then in front they went full gas. Actually in the end it was so fast, you can't bring back this time gap, they did a perfect race really".
Pidcock was in the peloton and whilst the Swiss team did have men to help with the chase, the weather conditions favoured those in front. UAE eventually had two riders, Marc Soler and Julius Johansen, ride off the front in the breakaway; whilst in the peloton Pidcock had to battle to remain in the wheels and not get caught out.
Outsmarted by UAE
"I thought, crosswinds in these last 25K, if we got together and went really hard we could bring them back, but it was actually more tailwind and I don't think we could bring them back anyway," he admits. "We didn't bring any time back really, they were still 40 seconds ahead at the finish".
In the final ascent, in which there were several hairpins and steep gradients, Pidcock put on a strong attack in the chasing group which was not followed by anyone. He gained 21 seconds on the group, but the 40 he lost to Marc Soler may not be possible to recover during tomorrow's queen stage.
However, the Briton may very well try, as he looked the strongest, and could try to put UAE under serious issues. "To be honest I'm pretty happy with my legs, how I felt there in the end. First race... Can't complain too much, but yeah we got outsmarted today".
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