Interview | Can Pidcock deliver after six hours in Liège? "The fact that I struggle with distance has gotten in my head a bit," he says.

Looking at the results of the still only 23-year-old Brit, one can only conclude that he is on a roll. After a good winter, he started in the Volta ao Algarve and immediately knuckled his way to stage victory on day four. He finished fifth in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and won Strade Bianche on the gravel roads of Tuscany. Pidcock was feeling good and continued on towards Tirreno-Adriatico, but there he crashed twice.

The second crash, on day seven, was tough. Pidcock threw in the towel for the race and INEOS Grenadiers was concerned he had suffered a mild concussion. As a precaution, he was kept off his bike for five days, causing him to miss Milan-Sanremo. Pidcock then started again in Andorra and seemed to have lost little form. His coach Kurt Bogaerts talked about winning and Pidcock immediately competed for victory in Dwars door Vlaanderen. He finished eleventh.

In the Tour of Flanders, Pidcock had his first encounter of the year with the trio Tadej Pogacar, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. For a brief moment, he seemed to be able to keep up when the fireworks started, but eventually he crumbled. Afterwards, Pidcock spoke of a bonk due to hunger. After two weeks of training, that had been forgotten and he was once again among the favorites at the start of the Amstel Gold Race. Once again, he was racing along when the great Pogacar fired off and this time he really seemed to be able to keep up. Until after the Keutenberg, when he ran out of steam again. “I really had nothing left at the end. I'm struggling a bit with the distance this year”, he admitted honestly afterwards.

We meet Pidcock on Friday morning, two days after the Flèche Wallonne. In that race, Pidcock eventually had to let go and rolled over the finish line in eighteenth place. After the race, he stated that he had not yet fully recovered from the Amstel Gold Race, so how is he feeling two days later? "I went into that race with a lot of confidence, but I went quite deep in the Amstel. Besides, we messed up a bit in the finale – I didn't start the Wall of Huy in a good position at all. Nevertheless, I produced good stats while racing," he tells us.

The big question is: how will things go on Sunday? The Flèche Wallonne lasted 4.5 hours and Liège-Bastogne-Liège will take more than six hours. Isn't Pidcock worried that his fate will be the same as during the Tour of Flanders and the Amstel? "I already feel much better now, but I did struggle with the distance. Of course, it's gotten in my head a bit, but it shouldn't affect me too much."

Easier said than done, because Pidcock knows damn well that you have to be 100% to compete for the win in Liège. “The bar is so high, you just can't afford to miss anything. Due to my crash in the Tirreno, I missed Milan-Sanremo, and those few days off the bike weren't ideal either. As a result, I'm missing just half a percent. Can you do anything distance-wise in the week leading up to the race? No, not really. I can't change anything, but I do have confidence that after the Amstel and a good effort in the Flèche Wallonne, I'll be better on Sunday.”

Pidcock's last road race for now will be Liège-Bastogne-Liège. After Sunday, he will focus on mountain biking and will only return to the road at the Tour de Suisse. After that, the Tour de France is next.

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg)