Just two days after narrowly finishing second to Tadej Pogačar at Milan-San Remo, Tom Pidcock has looked to turn away from his understandable initial disappointment, saying how losses like last Saturday's are what make victories all the more sweet when they do come.
The Brit survived all of the World Champion's accelerations on the Cipressa, after Pogačar returned from his crash, and then survived in his wheel where Mathieu van der Poel couldn't up the Poggio, before losing out in the sprint by half a wheel.
Pidcock spoke of feeling "bittersweet" and all the "what ifs" in the hours after the epic edition, but his maturity shone through as he reflected on the race ahead of his next challenge at the seven-stage Volta a Catalunya this week.
"I feel much better about it now. I think, actually, winning by such close margins, [but] also losing by such close margins, is what makes the times when you win better," Pidcock told CyclingProNet before the start of stage 1 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
"I think also, if I'd won, it would have been like... I'd never been on the podium there and then I win, it's a bit of a fluke, but now I prove I'm strong enough to challenge for the win. So hopefully, in the future, if I can win, it's more deserved if you like."
On to Catalunya
With that special performance in the bank, Pidcock did head straight for northern Spain, where he'll need to get into stage racing mode to face off with a stacked start list, notably featuring Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and João Almeida.
Racing kicks off on Monday with an undulating finale heading back to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, but the general classification will be decided over three tough mountain days from stages 4 to 6, and the typical punchy up-and-down day around Barcelona's Montjuïc hill – which suits him perfectly on paper – brings racing to a close on stage 7.
"I think the start list is super strong. Obviously, I have a good amount of confidence, which is nice," said Pidcock. "The race will come to us all in the final few days, it's a hard final."
He also made it clear that his focus will be on those climbing days, an area where he showed huge improvement by finishing third at last year's Vuelta a España, by detailing how the punchy stage 1 finale isn't one he's expecting to target.
"No, I don't think so, I think it's more of a puncheurs stage," he said to the question of whether stage 1 was in his sights. "That maybe would have been different if there was a tailwind along the coast, but with the headwind, that will make it a little more defensive."
