Ineos Grenadiers endured a day to overlook at Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, ending the second Monument of the season with no riders within the prime 20, Ben Turner fracturing his arm in a crash, and chief Tom Pidcock struggling a starvation knock.
The Briton headed into the race among the many better of the remainder among the many prime favourites behind the ‘massive three’ of Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Wout van Aert. Nevertheless, he would finish the day in 52nd place, ending alongside Julian Alaphilippe at eight minutes down on solo winner Pogačar.
Pidcock took to Instagram (opens in new tab) on Monday morning to evaluate his Sunday, praising his crew however admitting that he had made “a silly mistake” by not consuming sufficient through the 274km race.
“What a job these boys did yesterday,” Pidcock wrote. “Sadly, I couldn’t repay them. It was all mint till I had an entire starvation flat.
“I’m amazed I even made it to the end. A silly mistake, however there’s all the time subsequent 12 months. Get effectively quickly Ben Turner.”
It was a disappointing solution to finish a cobbled marketing campaign which had began brightly however was derailed by a concussion suffered at Tirreno-Adriatico, main him to overlook E3 Saxo Traditional in addition to Milan-San Remo, leaving Dwars door Vlaanderen as his solely warm-up for De Ronde.
The 23-year-old does have his beautiful solo win at Strade Bianche within the bag although, with that title together with a stage win on the Volta ao Algarve contributing to what has been a profitable early season.
Now he is set to take purpose on the hills, with Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège all on his provisional schedule. He gained Brabantse two years in the past earlier than infamously lacking out within the photograph end at Amstel, so Pidcock will probably be among the many favourites later this month.
“A pair weeks at house at times again for the Ardennes,” Pidcock concluded his submit.
Final season, Pidcock and his teammates had been among the many prime performers of the spring, racing on the entrance foot with a younger squad and happening to win Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race, and Paris-Roubaix, in addition to second in Flanders.
This time round it has been a distinct story – even when these races lie within the coming weeks – with Pidcock’s fifth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Filippo Ganna‘s tenth at E3 their prime outcomes to this point.
This Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix will see the crew line up with out Turner, whereas their winner final spring, Dylan van Baarle, is now at Jumbo-Visma. Ganna and 20-year-old American expertise Magnus Sheffield are set to guide the British squad on the cobbled Classics finale earlier than consideration turns to the Ardennes.
