After ending second and third in earlier editions of the Amstel Gold Race, Tom Pidcock lastly acquired to face on the highest step of the rostrum, as he took his first victory of the season forward of Marc Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot and Mauri Vansevenant within the dash to the road on the finish of a really attritional race.
Pidcock got here very near taking the victory at this race in 2021, narrowly lacking out to Wout van Aert in a photograph end that was later deemed to have been positioned within the incorrect place. Pidcock jokingly addressed this in his post-race interview, as he mentioned “I used to be going to say ‘yeah it’s nice to win for the second time’, however that may create some controversy”.
He additionally completed on the rostrum finally 12 months’s version behind Tadej Pogačar and Ben Healy, however didn’t have the legs on the day to observe the Slovenian rider when he made his transfer. Subsequently, after two near-misses, this race would have been excessive up on the British rider’s checklist of targets for this season.
Pidcock has suffered some misfortune this season although, as a crash within the recon of the Itzulia Basque Nation opening time trial took him out of that race and the tough cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix final weekend left him with some extreme blistering on his fingers, which he nonetheless but to get better from.
On what this victory means to him after the struggles he has confronted, he mentioned “it feels actually good. This 12 months has been so robust, I made large sacrifices being away from house a lot, so to lastly put it collectively and get the fingers within the air, it means so much”.
When requested why he enjoys racing on the Amstel Gold Race a lot, he replied “I don’t know. I all the time simply do race right here. At the moment the workforce have been absolutely behind me and Kwiato [Michał Kwiatkowski] goes very well, however he absolutely dedicated to me, so to have the ability to repay them is basically particular”.
Having gone into the ultimate few hundred metres in a bunch with three different riders, it was clear that the race can be determined by who had the quickest legs at that time. On whether or not he was assured going into the dash, Pidcock mentioned “half-and-half, my hand after Roubaix meant that this week I used to be struggling to dash, I had lots of shoulder ache, as a result of I couldn’t maintain my bars correctly, so yeah I used to be not so assured that was the way it was going to finish up”.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider made the decisive break up on the Keutenberg with round 30km to go, shifting himself up within the group with the intention to put himself into place to observe the assaults once they finally got here, going clear with ten different riders earlier than bridging throughout to the 2 riders on the head of the race.
Talking about whether or not he sensed that may be a decisive second, Pidcock instructed the interviewer “I did. I knew that this was going to be the entrance group, whether or not extra guys got here throughout I don’t know, however I knew this was going to be the ultimate right here”.
All eyes have been clearly on Mathieu van der Poel through the race after his latest victories on the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. When requested whether or not he was stunned that the World Champion had not made the entrance break up, Pidcock replied “I feel everybody was one another at the moment within the race. I put in a single assault and folks adopted, after which one other one, Tiesj [Benoot] and another person was with us and we have been the final guys to go throughout to the entrance. It’s not all the time about legs at that time”.
Waiting for the remaining Ardennes Classics at La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège subsequent week, Pidcock was requested what this victory means for the upcoming races, to which he responded “now that the strain’s off, we are able to simply go and race and do our greatest, and dare I say get pleasure from them. Though it in all probability received’t be so pleasurable once we’re in them. It’s a giant reduction to be trustworthy”.
In 2023, Pidcock completed second behind Remco Evenepoel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and he has beforehand completed as excessive as sixth at La Flèche Wallonne in 2021. He will probably be trying to go one higher than he did final 12 months at La Doyenne subsequent Sunday, as he continues to chase the primary Monument victory of his profession.
