Pidcock and Carapaz missed by Giro d'Italia free agents: 'It is different now'

On paper it sounds great: throwing yourself into three weeks of racing in a Grand Tour, without having to worry about protecting a GC contender or leading out a sprinter. There are plenty of teams at the Giro d'Italia riding with exactly that mindset. But 'free agents' Sjoerd Bax and Jardi van der Lee — from Pinarello-Q36.5 and EF Education-EasyPost respectively — will admit that they do miss the responsibility of being a domestique, at least a little.

Bax is riding his first Grand Tour at this Giro. The 30-year-old Dutchman knew well in advance that he would not have a rider of Tom Pidcock's calibre alongside him, with the Briton focusing on the Tour de France. And so the tall, powerful all-rounder gets to discover what he is made of in a three-week race. "All in all, it's going pretty well," he laughed ahead of the stage 9 start.

"In stage 8 I was absolutely done in from that long stage to Blockhaus the day before. But when I saw on Saturday that the breakaway was going to be a tough ask, I was happy to just take it easy. I'm hoping there are still opportunities for me — so far there have been too many pure climbers in the mix. With a flatter start, I'm hoping I can still get into the break."

Bax has already ridden plenty of one-week stage races, but from the second week of the Giro onwards his body will be entering unknown territory. "The beginning wasn't as bad as I feared, though that rainy stage 5 really took its toll. Fortunately stage 6 was fairly quiet, but the stage to Blockhaus was practically a double stage. I really felt that — especially because as a bigger rider you burn through more energy and need to eat a lot. That can then start to affect your stomach."

For Van der Lee, this is his second Grand Tour, after making his debut at the 2025 Vuelta a España. The 24-year-old climber has already spent one day in the breakaway. "The stage to Blockhaus was a great chance to show what I can do, but on such an iconic climb there are always GC riders who want to fight for the win. But nothing ventured, nothing gained — I gave everything I had."

The young EF rider can already draw on one Grand Tour for comparison. "In my first Grand Tour, I could already feel the fatigue hitting hard right from the start. I don't feel that as much this time, though we have had quite a few quieter days — plenty of sprint stages and that extra rest day after Bulgaria. It was a bit easier, but it's still going to get plenty hard."

We may well still see Bax and Van der Lee in the mix, but would they perhaps have preferred to have a big team leader alongside them? "In some stages you do miss having a real objective," said Bax, referring to Pidcock's absence. "We are still targeting the GC with Chris Harper, hopefully for a top ten. But when you have a real team leader, you can claim your position in the peloton."

"It is different now. Though on sprint days it is nice not to have to stress as much," he added. Van der Lee was also of two minds. "There is something to be said for both. In the Vuelta I was always free to go for stage wins, and that is no different here. I do not know what it is like to ride for a big leader in a Grand Tour, though I have done that in week-long stage races."

"That is just as much fun," he concluded. "It is a different kind of satisfaction, but also really great. Ultimately you are here as a rider, so the role you end up playing depends on the team's choices and how good you are. I have never actually ridden with Richard Carapaz, for example — that would have been amazing too."