Pidcock demolishes uphill finish in Saudi, Dunbar in the mix | Video

Tom Pidcock has taken his first win for his new team since leaving Ineos Grenadiers during the winter for Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team (Photo: Charly Lopez)

Tom Pidcock has taken his first victory of the season, and just his sixth on the road as a pro rider, at AlUla Tour, and at the first time of asking for his new team Q36.5.

Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco AlUla) was one of the fancied men for today's hilly stage, including a short sharp uphill finish, but had to be content with 4th behind the sheer firepower of Pidcock.

Dunbar's cause was not help by the fact the stage was shortened, with a lap of the finishing circuit - and a passage of the final climb, Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah - was cut from the route due to concerns about the road surface.

That reduced the attritional element of the stage; something that undermined Dunbar's chances against Pidcock.

However, there was no taking away from the quality of Pidcock's win, albeit in a modest field. Once he kicked for the line with 500m to go, the others were groveling for his wheel and losing time.

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In the end, he won by four seconds from Austrian Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain-Victorious). Reigning MTB XC champion, Alan Hatherly (Team Jayco AlUla), was 3rd at seven seconds, followed by Dunbar at 21 seconds.

"Today was super important for me," said Pidcock of converting his first chance to win for his new team. "A new team, all these great people, and I just wanted to do them proud today.

"The team rode brilliantly, they had full commitment in me and I was highly motivated for today. I knew I was in good shape but this year, now we're on SRAM the power meter is different.

"But when you look objectively, I'm in a really, really good place. But, of course, after a winter when you haven't competed against anyone, and you've been doing a lot of efforts on your own, you actually don't know. So it's nice to get a bit reassurance."

Pidcock said he put aside thoughts of winning the general classification and focused solely on targeting the stage win today. I felt the wind a little bit (after a first small attack) and said 'I'm just going to wait a bit longer.'"

However, at 500m, and as the pace was slow on a steep section, Pidcock jumped hard, opening a gap immediately on the others in the select group and powering all the win to the line for a very convincing win.

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