Pidcock keeps pushing through "tough Giro" and chooses laughter over complaints: "Otherwise I quickly lose interest"

This is Pidcock’s first Giro d’Italia, and the same goes for his team Q36.5. After a fantastic spring season, the 25-year-old Brit went to Albania with high ambitions, but he hasn’t been able yet to show that super form he had earlier this year in the AlUla Tour (two stage wins and overall victory), Ruta del Sol (stage win), and Strade Bianche (second behind an unstoppable Tadej Pogacar). His coach Kurt Bogaerts already said before the Giro that things hadn’t gone Pidcock's way during the Ardennes Classics, and the same applied to the first week of this Giro.

Pidcock finished fifth on stage 1 in a sprint against Mads Pedersen and Wout van Aert, followed by a solid time trial on day 2. On stage 5, he even came third, raising expectations for the mountain-top finish on day 7 in Tagliacozzo. Juan Ayuso took the win, while Pidcock disappointed with 20th place. “That first uphill finish was a good opportunity for me, but I had a bad day. Probably my worst day of the year,” Pidcock reflected.

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He didn’t have to wait long for a shot at redemption. Stage 9 would be the highly anticipated Strade Bianche stage through Tuscany — one of Pidcock's favorites. The two-time Olympic mountain bike champion seemed to be in great shape, but he crashed and had bad luck from then on. “I had to put my foot on the ground four times,” he said with a pained smile. The conclusion after ten days: “It hasn’t really gone great yet.”

And the time trial on day 10 wasn’t really his thing either. Still, the Brit fought hard and finished 42nd, now sitting 16th overall, 3 minutes and 41 seconds behind race leader and pink jersey holder Isaac Del Toro (UAE). The top ten is just 1 minute and 14 seconds away. “It was a fun day out,” he said of the time trial from Lucca to Pisa. “I started off fast and felt good, but those long, straight roads really wear on you. Then it started raining as I came out of the tunnel, so I didn’t know how much grip I’d have.”

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But Pidcock didn’t give up, just like during the first nine days. Each day, he’s fully committed to the performance at hand, without obsessing over the days to come. “It’s been a tough Giro so far,” he admitted. “The best thing is for me to stay focused, every single day. If I don’t go all-in each day, I quickly lose interest. So this is the right approach. Is it fun? It’d be more fun if things were going a bit better, haha.”

This new version of Tom Pidcock doesn’t complain, and so in week two it remains to be seen whether he’ll eventually ease off and let go of the GC ambitions. Which might increase his chances of pulling off a stage win. For now, he keeps fighting — and smiling, surprisingly often. “I could’ve been really disappointed after the Strade stage, because I felt super good. But I enjoyed it. And if I start whining like a lot of GC riders who hate those kinds of stages, we wouldn’t have them anymore. And those are the best ones.”

Bram van der Ploeg (Twitter: @BvdPloegg | email: [email protected])