When breakaway opportunities have beckoned in the second half of this year's Tour de France, Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5) has consistently pounded the pedals to cash in for a payday. However, by stage 18 there were no more surprises for his rivals, and the brash British rider could not escape.
"It wasn't possible to get in the break, no one wanted me there. I already knew from before the race that I was on people's blacklists, not gonna get in the break," Pidcock told EuroSport broadcasters at the finish Thursday.
A breakaway did get away on the first of three days in the Alps, but there was no representative from Pinarello-Q36.5. Instead, mountains classification points were a magnet on a climbing-heavy day for Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), with the Frenchman edging one point away from KOM leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) and Carapaz grabbing the second Tour stage win of his career.
"Not an easy day, but the last time was fairly controlled I think. But when Carapaz is up the road, this guy, I have too much respect to this guy to give him free time, you know? You don't give Carapaz free time," Pidcock said.
"I wanted to try one more time. But I guess now I just focus on the GC until Paris."
On stage 13, Pidcock moved into fourth in the general classification with a podium finish in Belfort, moving to within 4:15 of the yellow jersey Pogačar. It was a short-lived gain, as he slipped back to eighth the next day as Pogačar pulverised the breakaway and the entire peloton with a solo win, riding 4:30 to his closest competitor and 7:59 ahead of the Briton.
So what is a fierce competitor to do? Pidcock went back to work on stage 15 to make his third breakaway of the week, though it only produced penalties for pushing off against a car, not once but twice. That cost him some Swiss francs, KOM points but also 20 seconds in the GC.
Those 20 seconds would only place him one spot higher that his current eighth place in the GC as of today, as he is eight seconds behind Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious). He has 6:07 between him and a spot on the podium, third place occupied by Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), and then another 6:51 to Pogačar.
Pidcock noticed that UAE Team Emirates-XRG were not firing on all cylinders headed to the final two days in the Alps on Friday and Saturday for double ascents of Alpe d'Huez. While the team led three classifications - overall, mountains and youth - several of their dependable climbers had come down with sickness, namely Brandon McNulty who withdrew during stage 18. Also suffering from health issues were Adam Yates and Tim Wellens.
"It's not good for them. They definitely weren't in a good way today," Pidcock said about UAE.
"But I think to be honest, these next two days, it's about the other teams fighting for the podium, so I think UAE might not have that much work to do."
Pidcock has his own work to do, perhaps taking a chance on one day to the top of Alpe d'Huez, as he was the last rider to win on the iconic mountain at the Tour de France, scoring the stage 12 victory four years ago.
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