Pidcock steps out of the shadow of Van der Poel and Van Aert

Strade Bianche loves big names.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
04 March 2023 Saturday 15:29
8 Reads
Pidcock steps out of the shadow of Van der Poel and Van Aert

Strade Bianche loves big names. Her palmares is full of world champions. Road, time trial and cyclocross. And from the Tour, because Pogacar has nothing to envy them. But most of all the sterrato loves the giants of the cross country. In Siena, Zdenek Stybar won almost a decade ago. 2020 ago, in August due to the pandemic, Van Aert triumphed. A year later he had to exhibit himself to Van der Poel. So there was little doubt that one day sooner rather than later Tom Pidcock would raise his arms in Il Campo.

Between the Czech, the Belgian, the Dutch and the British, the last 10 Cyclocross World Championships have been shared. For them, nothing like the dust, white roads, gravel and pebbles of the Tuscan hills.

Pidcock's big moment, 23, came this Saturday. He is not just anyone because he already had a Brabanzona Arrow to his credit and a stage in the Tour, where eight months ago he conquered the mythical Alpe d'Huez, as well as a mountain bike gold medal in Tokyo. But the Strade Bianche is the race that gives you a doctorate, the one that makes you definitely leave the long shadow of Van der Poel and Van Aert.

That Pidcock (Ineos) is a juggler of descents is well known. Last year he marveled going down the Galibier. This winter he argued with another kamikaze-style descent in the United States. On the way to Siena, he looped the loop. You have to be a great specialist and master the bike at will to overtake a bike in the race in full descent on the sterrato.

There the Englishman from Leeds was already alone. He launched himself in Monte Sante Marie, like Pogacar last year, almost 50 kilometers away and left Van der Poel (Alpecin), the great favorite, who was making his debut this season on asphalt, without legs or reaction. The one from Ineos caught up with the Italian De Marchi, survivor of the escape where the young Iván Romeo (Movistar) got into.

Pidcock did the last 20 kilometers with an advantage that always oscillated between 20 seconds. He never gave up. The Jumbo group (Benoot and Valter because Van Aert decided to unsubscribe and stay in Tenerife), Rui Costa, Madouas and Mohoric came to have him very close. When they left Le Tolfe, the last stretch of sterrato, it was a stone's throw away, a handful of seconds, six or seven.

They were 12 km away but they no longer saw him. From behind they collaborate but suspect each other. They passed to the relay but kept strength. They helped each other but watched each other. And Pidcock never faltered. He to the point of arriving in excess, in time and strength, to the fearsome Via Santa Caterina. “I saw them very close and wondered if I had not left a little soon. But in these races, if you manage to maintain the difference and persist, it is very difficult to get caught ”, he explained at the finish line in Siena. The small Pidcock (1.70) was as big as the Mangia tower, which measures 88 meters.