Tom Pidcock took a moment to compose himself as he reached his team after the finish line of Alpe d’Huez on stage 20 of the Tour de France. The man from Leeds, distinctive in his Red Bull helmet, covered his face with a blue towel, and listened as his soigneur held his face and geed him up, made him realise what he’d just achieved.
Unlike the previous day, this was not a completely emptied Pidcock, but one satisfied with his achievement of all but sealing ninth place at the world’s biggest bike race.
The Pinarello Q36.5 rider finished 16th on Saturday, 9:03 behind stage winner Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), but defended his overall place, taking time on 10th-placed Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies). It means, barring disaster, Pidcock will achieve his first ever top 10 result at the Tour.
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Pidcock has had a combative race, twice finishing third on stages, but did not quite get over the line for his second stage victory. However, a second Grand Tour top 10, and a first at the Tour, satisfied both the 26-year-old and his team.
“I think I’m very happy,” he said after finishing atop Alpe d’Huez for a second day in a row. “I think top 10 in the Tour, I can be very proud of. Of course, I’m ambitious, I look forward to next year to try and improve it. For now, I can be very happy. It has been an unbelievably hard race. I don’t know if the race tomorrow is neutralised, but I hope it’s neutralised.”
Asked how difficult the day was, he replied: “From the first climb… the first 20 minutes we went so hard, I thought it was going to be a fucking long day.”
Pidcock did not have an ideal run-up to the Tour, with illness forcing him to skip the Tour de Suisse, and seemingly affecting his training as well.
“I would have signed for that [ninth] coming into this race, knowing the disruption I had in the lead up here, I can be very happy,” he continued. “I’m ambitious, I look forward to next year, I’m already thinking about things I can improve on to get a better result and be close to these other guys, but for now I can be happy.”
There is the small matter of the final stage in Paris on Sunday, which on paper could suit a rider like Pidcock, although the course might not be hard enough. However, in reality, it has come at the end of a hard race.
“First of all, we go to the race and see how it is,” he said. “I look forward to the finish line to be honest.”
Having finished top 10 at the Tour, on top of his third place at the Vuelta a España last season, Pidcock now knows where there are gains to be made: “When I’m in my best shape I have consistency, and I didn’t have that coming into this. That’s what I missed I think, consistently working and getting better every training session. That’s good for me.”
For now, though, there are 89 kilometres in between Pidcock and a well-earned rest – not a beer though, he is not a fan.
