Tom Pidcock was the strongest rider up and over the Alto Virgen del Castillo on the opening day of the Vuelta a Murcia. The problem was, the stage – and now possibly the overall race – had gotten away from him.
The British rider, making his season debut after last year’s breakthrough Vuelta a España podium, attacked impressively from a shredded main group on the crucial late climb on Friday, but the day’s winner, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), was already sailing to victory.
Soler was part of a breakaway that formed early on a stage shortened to just 83km by high winds, before going clear with teammate Julius Johansen for 35km and then soloing home in the final five.
The move was crucially aided by the presence of a third UAE rider, Tim Wellens, who jumped across to the break alone with 60km to go from an echelon that had just formed in the fierce crosswinds. Present in the echelon was not only Pidcock but also three of his teammates, in what had seemed like a strong suit, but they ended up going back to the peloton and chasing a situation that quickly got out of hand.
“I think a big problem today was we struggled with our radios a little bit,” Pidcock told Eurosport after the stage. “Then, when Tim attacked, I was taking a gel. Then it was a bit late.
“In front, they went full gas. Actually, in the end so fast you can’t bring back this time gap. They did a perfect race. really.”
The stage was run off at over 50kph, and a tailwind towards the finale meant that even a cohesive and furiously chasing main group – which steadily whittled down to barely a dozen riders – could not bring back the UAE pair.
“I thought it was crosswind on this last 25km, and I thought if we got together there and went hard, we could bring them back, but it was actually more tailwind,” Pidock said.
“I don’t think we could have brought them back anyway. We didn’t bring any time back, really – they were still 40 seconds in front at the finish.
Nevermind the race dynamics on a massively chaotic day, Pidcock could still take heart from his performance, which included an eye-catching attack over the late Alto Virgen del Castillo (1.3km at 7.4%). He left the rest of his group and put 20 seconds into them and more into Soler, who started with well over a minute but was reduced to 40 seconds by the time Pidcock crossed the line.
Pidcock, who described himself as having an “inconsistent” winter, has clearly hit the season in decent shape.
“To be honest, I was happy with my legs in my first race,” he said. “I can’t complain too much, but we got outsmarted today.”
A deficit of 40 seconds is a tough ask against a rider like Soler on a second and final stage that’s only lightly hilly, so Pidcock’s GC hopes have been dented, but then again, the wind isn’t forecast to settle down by Saturday afternoon.
