When Tom Pidcock was asked directly in his pre-Tour of Flanders press conference if he was willing to name the person whom he thought would win on Sunday, he was non-committal, to say the least.
“Who will win? I don’t know,” he said, “Me?”
Cue some appreciative laughter from journalists, rendering a final brief comment inaudible, and the end of the press conference.
Perhaps the only real conclusion possible about Flanders at this point in time is that making predictions in cycling is a thankless business. But that’s likely even more the case in Pidcock’s personal case, given that after a spell away from racing due to concussion, an 11th place at Dwars door Vlaanderen revealed that Pidcock was definitely thereabouts, but said precious little about his real chances of ‘being there’ on Sunday.
But either way, the Ineos Grenadiers leader is still largely upbeat about his chances, saying, “My legs in Dwars were not bad, but I was not brilliant either. I just missed the top end, but I always struggle in my first race after a little period away.
“The plan leading into Dwars was not what we had planned, so I guess not ideal, but they were not bad.”
On Wednesday, his coach Kurt Bogaerts had said Pidcock’s goal at Dwars door Vlaanderen was more about refamiliarizing himself with the specifics of racing in the Flemish Ardennes than about a specific result.
But whatever is to be made of Wednesday, Pidcock nonetheless concurred on Friday with the widely held view that getting a result in the biggest Flemish Classic of all would mean having the three key players of E3 Saxo Classic as a reference point, rather than simply trying to set things up on his own account.
“They’ve all shown that they’re in top shape, and they made the race in E3, so I think everyone expects those three to make the race on Sunday,” Pidcock said. “But I want to be able to be with them as well in the final. It’s not complicated: I can either follow or I can’t, so I hope it’s the former.”
As for the idea of being ahead of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, and Tadej Pogačar and ‘making the race’ himself, Pidcock preached caution, while not totally ruling it out: “It’d be nice to be up the road and have a free ride, but I don’t think it’ll be easy.”
Pidcock countered the idea that he had lost a great deal after concussion left him out of Milan-San Remo – “It’s not ideal but I don’t think it has destroyed my Classics Campaign either” was his succinct conclusion about his time out.
But he also…
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