"What is he like on the 18th day, on a mountain, after riding GC for 17 days?" - Tom Pidcock urged to 'ride GC all the way to Rome' by Geraint Thomas & Luke Rowe
CyclingWednesday, 21 May 2025 at 11:00
Tom Pidcock has been quietly going about his business over the course of the first 10 stages of the 2025 Giro d'Italia. Having come close to the stage win a couple of times, Pidcock sits 16th in the GC, 3:41 down after 10 days of racing.
Analysing the performance of their former teammate, Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe assessed Pidcock's Giro d'Italia so far on the latest episode of the Watts Occurring podcast. "It was obviously a big goal for him, going for the stage and for the GC," Rowe begins, reflecting on the chaos of the 'mini Strade Bianche' stage 9 that Pidcock was among the pre-stage favourites, before being struck by bad luck.
"He crashes, loses a bit of time and is currently 16th in the GC. What does he do now?" Rowe asked his fellow Welshman and former Giro d'Italia runner-up Thomas.
"GC wise, just battling every day, trying to come back - it's a tough ask isn't it," Thomas admits, casting doubt on the prospect of Pidcock getting back into contention at the top of the standings.
"There's obviously a lot of talk about Tom wanting to ride GC. Now he's got his own team, you know, where he can do what he wants. I think he should just ride GC all the way to Rome. To the death," Rowe counters. "Because he's never done it. What is he like on the 18th day, on a mountain, after riding GC for 17 days? We don't know."
Riding for the general classification and riding to win stages can also go hand in hand as Thomas explains. "And by doing that, I think he can still win a stage," adds the former Tour de France winner in conclusion. "Just keep plugging on isn't it, just see how deep you can go."
Are Tom Pidcock's GC dreams still alive? pic.twitter.com/GLvPZqccEv
— Watts Occurring (@Watts_Occurring) May 21, 2025
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- Dekker, if you want the job of commentator, at least follow Tadej. Every time Ayuso wins, Tadej like him and post congratulations. It never happens reciprocally, never Ayuso posts congratulations to his team-mates. There are people who like to play alone (it's not marginalization).
maria2024202404-06-2025 - Maybe if you see the results Pog has under his belt is the reason he makes decisions within the team. You can always make comments after the race or incident has occured. Hindsight fantastic. I feel the comments are sour grapes by Dekker crap rider when a pro and now sitting in the chair complaining. Would not even mind if it was good journalism even .move on nothing to see here old news.paultryan200204-06-2025
- Juan must have searched a beehive and stuck his face in it so he wouldn't have to work for his team-mate in pink 😄😄😄maria2024202404-06-2025
- Honestly Del Toro didn't act like had the jersey at all. Was so many times on stages prior he got Gee or someone else to chase when it was 100% his teams responsibility.HoopoeChai04-06-2025
- Would others want him though? Hes not really getting the results needed plus we have all seen Pidcock performance since left INIOS and its basically the same situation.HoopoeChai04-06-2025
- Vingegaard normally only has one goal: TDF I doubt if he'll win Dauphiné.Ride197404-06-2025
- I think Del Toro was tired, and he was probably going to lose the Giro anyway on that long climb. But he had the privilege of choosing which one was going to win: Yates or Carapaz. If he followed Yates, Carapaz would get his free ride up, then attack at the end. If he followed Carapaz, Yates was going to run off like he did.Ride197404-06-2025
- We don't know the whole story in it but don't create some issues Thomas Dekker. I know you're also has a Rabobank-Michael Rasmussen biological passport issue as well in your 2007 days.
James2631804-06-2025 - The last post is spot on.....the UAE team had the resposibility of straightening their boy, seeing as he was letting a giro he had in the bag go up the road. Remember Yates was virtual leader by only about 17 seconds at the top of Finestre so that giro was still salvageable even if Yates linked with Wout, they still had Sestriere to cut into Yates's lead if they had not brought him back at that point. So yes...UAE DS blew it.Zone0Rider04-06-2025
- The Ayuso pile-on get's a bit ridiculous at times. Ayuso didn't lose the Giro for UAE. It was crappy strategy by UAE. And maybe Yates just being stronger. UAE had by far the strongest team even after losing Ayuso and Vine, but didn't use them effectively. For example why wasn't McNulty sent ahead as a satellite rider on Stage 20. If Van Aert made it over the hill so could have Mcnulty. Problem is McNulty was too high on the GC so he wouldn't have been let go. So why the heck was McNulty chasing a meaningless top 10 on GC instead of shedding some time so he could be rested and useful for his leader? Why was Adam Yates invisible for much of the race? Why did it sometimes feel like Majka was the only one all in on supporting Del Toro?mobk04-06-2025
Pidcock has never been consistent enough for a Grand Tour GC fight. Perhaps, the early season success in the stage race was due to the lack of depth in the field. Now that the top dogs are in the Grand Tour, he seems to be overshadowed. But how far can he go? If he doesn't try till the end, he will never know.