For a split second, Tom Pidcock was hit with an unnerving sense of déjà vu. He was sprinting for victory at Amstel Gold Race against a rider in the yellow and black of Visma-Lease A Bike, and it was hard not to cast his mind back to his narrow defeat at the hands of Wout van Aert three years ago.
On that occasion, Pidcock was convinced he had taken the win, but after lengthy scrutiny of the photo finish, the race jury deemed that Van Aert had taken the spoils. This time out, the Ineos Grenadier rider found himself sprinting for victory against Van Aert’s teammate Tiesj Benoot, as well as Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal-QuickStep).
