Strade Bianche, the highlight of spring in Tuscany, is not a normal bike race. It’s one that electrifies fans and drivers alike. The “white roads” are a 184-kilometer rumble track through dust and dirt, a brutal chase over country roads and gravel tracks, the Italian version of the famous spring classics in the Ardennes, the southernmost of the classics of the north, the organizers claim on their website.
Whoever wins here, rolling across the finish line in front of a great crowd in cycling-mad Siena, has clinched a significant victory – especially if achieved in the manner Thomas Pidcock did over the weekend. The 23-year-old Briton from the Ineos Grenadiers team attacked with 45 kilometers to go and pulled away from two competitors, Italian Allesandro de Marchi and Norwegian Sven Erik Bystrom.
“I just accelerated”
However, the two were only colleagues who had found a cheap ride and were hanging behind Pidcock like two wagons on a steam locomotive. The Yorkshireman reeled off his entire class in front. He, the best downhiller in the world, raced up and down the nasty climbs, first dropping Bystrom and then also leaving de Marchi in the dust of a poisonous climb.
“I didn’t really want to attack,” Pidcock later said. “I just accelerated and then I was on my own.” Once the pursuers came within six seconds of him the lead seemed to be gone, but Pidcock picked up the pace and was quickly a half-minute ahead of the competition again.
Last year, Slovenian superstar Tadej Pogacar similarly won the Strade Bianche with a 50km solo. And like the 2020 and 2021 Tour de France winner, Pidcock is one of those riders who will put their heart into it, who will try something, even on their own, in a cycling world that usually relies on teamwork and on Captains being waited on by their helpers.
Soloists with fire under their butts, guys like the legendary Eddy Merckx, they do it again and Thomas Pidcock is one of them. Others include Pogacar, Belgium’s Wout van Aert, who skipped the Strade Bianche this year, and Mathieu van der Poel, who played no role, arguably due to the Dutchman’s winter focus on World Cross Country Championships. He won the title against van Aert, but that wasn’t ideal preparation for the first tough road races.
Pidcock is modest
Pidcock, the great all-rounder among the best cyclists in the world, Olympic mountain bike champion, 2022 Cross World Champion and winner of the Tour stage last year up to Alpe d’Huez, had decided not to start at the Cross Country World Championships to save himself to focus on Strade Bianche and the following classics. With success. His victory was not in jeopardy.
“There were a few moments where I thought maybe it was stupid to attack so early,” he said. A worry that was unfounded. Comparisons with Pogacar were quickly drawn. But Pidcock was modest. Pogacar, he said, is a phenomenal athlete who sets the standard.
Is Pidcock someone who can one day win the Tour de France? Probably yes. Pogacar and last year’s winner Jonas Vingegaard are the top dogs. Behind them come – still – Primoz Roglic and then the Belgian Remco Evenepoel and Thomas Pidcock, two wild youngsters who own the future.
