The difference, after six and a half hours, was just four centimetres. Only a bike throw could separate Tadej Pogačar and Tom Pidcock at Milan-San Remo, and the Briton, having held the world champion so masterfully on a leash, finished a rim’s width short.
Pidcock’s feeling in the aftermath was bittersweetness. He told reporters in the mixed zone that he was “pretty disappointed”, but nonetheless proud of his ride: “What I did was quite amazing,” he said.
Although there was no Via Roma win, no toppling of the world’s best rider, the second place signalled something pivotal: Pidcock is in the realm of the greats. A Monument victory now seems only a matter of time away.
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“Tom, for me, is an example of continuous work,” Bogaerts told Cycling Weekly two days on from Milan-San Remo. “He searches his limits every year. With workload and intensity, it’s building on the year before and progressing on that. That’s what Tom does already year after year, and that’s where you see a continuous trend of improving.”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Bogaerts has worked with Pidcock since 2018, when the Yorkshireman was racing as a teenager in the British domestic circuit for Team Wiggins. The year Pidcock signed for Ineos Grenadiers, 2021, Bogaerts joined the team as an assistant sports director, and then followed his mentee last year to Pinarello Q36.5.
“In the last years, his physical strength has really come up,” Bogaerts said. “People in the beginning maybe thought he did a lot on skills, but I never saw him like that, to be honest. If, as a junior, you win the World Championships time trial [as Pidcock did in 2017], then already at a young age you show a lot of physical capabilities.”
Proof of that progression came at last year’s Vuelta a España. Though a stage win eluded him, Pidcock rode commandingly to his first Grand Tour podium, earning third overall. His second place at San Remo on Saturday, in a field containing Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike), showed a step-up in one-day racing, too.
Bogaerts is now confident there’s more to come. “He’s still young – he’s 26 – so the better years are ahead of him,” the coach said.
“I think he’s still going to improve [over the next] couple of years. That’s what I predict. Of course, that goes hand in hand with continuing doing the work and continuing having a good work ethic, and having a bit of luck also.”
At San Remo, Pidcock was unfaltering against Pogačar’s attacks. He followed the world champion over the Cipressa, hugged his wheel tightly on the Poggio, mimicking each acceleration, and held on when no-one else could, not even Van der Poel, the Monument’s two-time winner.
Along the finishing straight, again, it was Pogačar who kicked first. Pidcock edged right, came out to round him on the left, and just as the pair drew shoulder to shoulder, the final act in their duel, the line arrived too soon for the Briton. Four centimetres, to be exact.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“It hurts to be so close,” Pidcock said afterwards. Was there anything his coach thought he could have done differently? “I think not much, to be honest,” Bogaerts said. “I think he executed really well, rode really maturely, co-operated where he needed to co-operate.
“With a sprint, I think you can say many things. I think he had a strategy, and the other one [Pogačar] was just a little bit faster. I don’t think he could have done much more than he did.”
Some wondered if Pidcock might have attacked on the descent of the Poggio, with around 7km to go. “That wouldn’t make any difference,” Bogaerts said.
“Tadej is a really good bike rider and he has good skills. He prepared this race to the smallest detail. I think that would not be smart [to attack on the descent], and likely would have ended up in a crash, maybe for both of them. That’s knowing that your competitor is well prepared and having respect for your competitor. They went fast downhill – even a few times, it was definitely fast enough.
“[Pidcock] could have won the race,” Bogaerts added. “I think that was definitely possible. I think there’s not much more you can do.”
It was that reality that left the Pinarello Q36.5 rider feeling bittersweet after the line. “I can’t help but be disappointed right now. It was so close to a Monument win, but I need to look at it from a wider perspective,” Pidcock said. “For sure, it must be one of the best days.”
The Briton now hopes more good days will now follow, as he plots his season through this week’s Volta a Catalunya, via the Ardennes Classics, and then onto July’s Tour de France.
When he turns up at Milan-San Remo next March, the bookmakers will have him among the favourites – perhaps the favourite if Pogačar does not start. “Tom Pidcock was really strong,” the world champion said in his post-race interview. Don’t be surprised if he’s even stronger next year.
