Tom Pidcock has said he will aim for the Tour de France yellow jersey during his career and believes he can win the race one day. However, for now he would try to win stages by racing against the best in the race and beating them head-on.
While he claimed victory on the Alpe d'Huez stage of the race last year, he pointed out that was from a breakaway rather than battling the best in the race and beating them to the finish line. He had also learned valuable lessons during last year's edition, including on the day he won.
“I had about two hours sleep after that stage,” he says of winning on the famed mountain. “Things went downhill fast from there.”
The 23-year-old won the world title in cyclocross last year and is also the reigning Olympic MTB champion. So far this year he has won Strade Bianche and a stage of Volta ao Algarve (2.Pro). He will ride the Tour de France again this year, though he believed he would be more heavily marked if he tried to go in breakaways.
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“The performance on the day was not bad," Pidcock told The Telegraph of his victory on Alpe d'Huez last July. "But it wasn’t the best. I know very well I won that stage from the breakaway. I didn’t beat the best riders in the race one-on-one. The next step is winning stages against the best guys. But I believe I can. I believe one day I can win the Tour.
“For now, I want to win stages outright. Obviously, after last year, I’ll have less and less freedom to be able to go in breaks and win like I did last year. So yeah the next step in my development is winning stages outright.”
But he also reiterated that, in the future, he believed he could win the race, saying: "Why not? I think I know myself quite well. I know what my limits are. Whether it’s mountain biking or the Olympics, or with cross, or where I can get to with the classics… I feel like when I believe it’s realistic to win something, so far I haven't been wrong about it.”
Pidcock was speaking to Tom Carey of The Telegraph at a recent team training camp, so before he won Strade Binache. In the same interview, Geraint Thomas said while he had intended to stop racing at the end of this year, he may keep going for another season, adding he needed to make his mind up quickly.
"It’s a decision I’d like to make fairly soon to be honest," Thomas said. "Because if it’s going to be my last year I want to just, you know, take it in and make the most of racing with these guys while I’m still here. Obviously Tom is the main man in the team now.”
