Five months ago Tom Pidcock’s career at Ineos Grenadiers appeared to hit a wall. Rumblings of discontent between rider and management suddenly manifested themselves in direct and brutal action: Pidcock was dropped for the final Classic of the season, Il Lombardia.
The Briton had been second at the previous week’s Giro dell’Emilia, the runner-up behind the peerless Tadej Pogacar. He was in good form and clearly motivated. The move to unceremoniously drop him was as baffling as it was a serious indicator that Pidcock’s time at Ineos was over in all but name.
