Tom Pidcock takes motivation from Monte Petrano ascent: "It was one of my best climbing performances that I’ve ever done"

Tom Pidcock has been training for the classics but later in the year he's aiming for a result at the Tour de France. Hence, he set out to test himself at Tirreno-Adriatico, and he comes off happy with his numbers up Monte Petrano; the most difficult climb of the race that ended stage 6.

“I’ve mixed emotions because yesterday wasn’t a great day but then today was actually really good. There were two things that I wanted to do today, which was to help Thymen [Arensman] get third on GC but also to keep testing my own boundaries, and today I was much better," Pidcock said in words to GCN at the end of the day.

The day was all about the final climb, where after BORA - hansgrohe pushed the pace hard, Jai Hindley went on the attack. Jonas Vingegaard then moved off the front alone to win the stage. Pidcock led the chasing group working for his teammate who was in fourth place: “Today I could have actually been in the front group. I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling but I was better than I thought I’d be, and at the same time I was thinking about Thymen, so it was difficult.”

In the final kilometers the chasing group also saw attacks, and Pidcock had freedom to hit it out to the line, eventually arriving in fifth place 42 seconds back on the race leader. “It was just getting yesterday in the legs and then today I could already see improvements. Today was a lot easier than yesterday, because of the flat sections. They don’t care who is in the break. They just ride their thing, they tire everyone out, and make it a super hard day," he says of Visma. "Then they get ready for Jonas to attack at high fatigue and that’s their strategy. That’s how a lot of races are going to play out now."

The INEOS Grenadiers is aware of what will likely be the tactic in July then, but more and more he's showing the ability to match the best in long and constant efforts. Consistency will be key, but a Top10 result now at Tirreno-Adriatico will solidify his improvement as a stage-racer.

"I was actually feeling really good. It was one of my best climbing performances that I’ve ever done. So I can be happy about that," he said of the 10-kilometer climb. "Also, I can be positive about everything. I haven’t won a race yet this year but I’m definitely in good shape. Without the training from long efforts, I’ve done pretty decent performances the last few days."