Pidcock sends an important signal by letting new chance at Vuelta stage win slip: "Then you have to make decisions"

The Q36.5 leader seemed to be feeling his legs a bit more toward the end of the second week. He lost some time on the tough summit finishes and could no longer match Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) and João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). He did, however, enter the second and final rest day in third overall, with Jai Hindley (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) breathing down his neck.

On the final climb of stage 17, though, we saw the Pidcock who had impressed so much during the opening week of the Vuelta. He followed all the accelerations seemingly with ease, and with his punch everything looked perfectly set up for him to sprint for the stage win at the summit. But that was without accounting for Pellizzari, who boldly rode away and crossed the line 19 seconds ahead.

For Pidcock, it must have been a tough call, because he would have loved to respond to Pellizzari. “But if you’re fighting for the final podium, this is the sacrifice you have to make. A stage win would have been great, so it’s a pity. But we’re riding for the podium, that’s the goal, and then you have to make decisions.”

With no small amount of reluctance, Pidcock saw Pellizzari’s white jersey disappear into the distance. His powerful sprint to second place said it all, as he still clawed back 15 seconds in the closing meters. “We were all alone in the finale, except for the Red Bull guys, and they took advantage of that. They did a great job.”

The big question is: In Madrid, will Pidcock regret the sacrifice he made on day 17, or will it pay off with a podium finish? In any case, thanks to his explosive sprint, he extended his lead over Hindley in fourth to 36 seconds, including bonus seconds. His gap to Vingegaard, however, remains a hefty 2 minutes and 28 seconds. Next up: Thursday’s stage 18 time trial.