Tom Pidcock is set to make his debut in Paris-Roubaix tomorrow after bouncing back much faster than expect after his crash during a TT recon ride at Tour of the Basque Country.
The British rider, who won the U23 and junior versions of Paris-Roubaix, injured his hip in the recon ride crash and was forced out of the event before it even began. However, it transpire he suffered only soft tissue injuries and recovered within days.
He was perhaps lucky to miss the Basque stage race as it has been something of a crash-fest, resulting in multiple broken bones for several riders, including Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Soudal-QuickStep duo Remco Evenepoel and Mikel Landa.
Pidcock has said his crash, last Monday, did not have a major impact on his cycling over the last week and he was now looking forward to getting stuck in at tomorrow's race.
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“I actually had quite a good week’s training, didn’t miss too much. And now here at Roubaix, my favourite race of all, which I haven’t done as a pro yet so I’m excited," he said.
“It’s actually been a pretty good week. After my crash (which happened) suddenly before the time trial and the recon it was all a bit chaos. Then I didn’t start, tried to get home. I recovered and did some more scans. I was confident nothing was wrong. There was a bit of pain but no problem.”
Pidcock is part of an Ineos Grenadiers team for Paris-Roubaix that also includes 19-year-old Josh Tarling, the TT specialist who looks tailor-made for the race. Also in the team is AJ August, the 18-year-old American who is the youngest rider to start the race in almost a century.
The Ineos Grenadiers team is perhaps a development squad towards winning the race in the years ahead, though Tarling is the one that could spring a surprise tomorrow. The team also includes Ben Turner, Ben Swift, Elia Viviani and Conor Swift.
