"We should not create unrealistic expectations" - Tom Pidcock's coach comments on rider's Tour de France GC prospects

Having tasted success in various disciplines during his short professional cycling career to date, INEOS Grenadiers would like Tom Pidcock's next step to be challenging for Grand Tour victories.

In his first crack at riding for the general classification in a Grand Tour at last year's Tour de France, Pidcock finished 13th, well down on overall winner, Jonas Vingegaard and even some distance from the podium in truth. "Tom has a good feeling and is making good progress," his coach, Kurt Bogaerts tells In de Leiderstrui. He wants to make progress in the Tour, although that will not be a quick development. That is going smoothly and I see it going well if we remain calm and do not skip any steps."

Having shown his climbing capabilities by winning a stage of the 2022 Tour de France atop Alpe d'Huez, Pidcock now needs to show his abilities for three weeks. "We should not create unrealistic expectations. I don't put a number on it, but he makes progress mentally, for example, at times when he is less physically active," says Bogaerts. "The bad days became less bad in 2023. Tom has to learn to trust that it is normal to get worse, if you go deep day after day. Everyone feels worse, but you also want to win races on bad days. He deals with that well and he is already very mature in that regard. He expresses his ambitions, but he has the patience."

Arguably his biggest setback against a Grand Tour GC challenge is the relatively poor time-trial capabilities of the Brit although it's something he's working hard to improve. "He has improved a bit, although he can still make a lot of progress. He has to find confidence in the bike and in the position, and let himself steer. Maintaining that ultimate position as best as possible is a very big challenge for him. Once he gets that right, he will ride great time trials," Bogaerts analyses.

"Tom is a rider who constantly sees and chooses his lines on the road, on the MTB and in the cross. This is different in time trial, you have to let yourself be steered from the car and you have to learn to trust that," he concludes. "That's the big point, and you can't put a time limit on it. The positive thing is that he is slowly starting to transfer the power of the road bike to the time trial bike, but that does not yet lead to very good times."