Tom Pidcock plays down his chances of taking the yellow jersey in Basque country: "It’s going to be a super-hard day"

Tom Pidcock keeps refusing to call it a target, but he's got realistic chances of taking on the yellow jersey in the opening stages of upcoming Tour de France.

“I think it is (an opportunity), yeah,” he told the PA news agency. “It’s a possibility and something that I am aware is a possibility. I think the first stage of the Tour is one that can be treated like a one-day classic, it’s going to be a super-hard day.”

He wants to show greater consistency in the general classification, and also to win a stage from the main bunch rather than a break.

“Last year I was going to the Tour two months after being ill in the spring and then getting Covid, it was not the perfect lead in,” he said. “I think this year I’m stronger and I can do better, basically.”