Pidcock’s Milan-Sanremo reflections and “best sprint ever” in Catalonia leave strong impression

“Ask me again in a few days in Catalonia how I feel, once I’ve had time to reflect,” Pidcock said on Saturday after finishing second in Milan-Sanremo. He was narrowly beaten in the sprint by Tadej Pogačar of UAE Emirates-XRG, and that hurt. “I shouldn’t be disappointed, but I can’t help it.”

And so Eurosport caught up with Pidcock again on Monday before the start of stage 1 in Catalonia. “I feel a lot better about it. Winning and losing by such small margins only makes winning in moments like that even better. If I had won there without ever having been on the podium before, maybe it would almost have been a one-off.”

That may sound a little harsh on himself, because Pidcock was still the only rider able to stay on Pogačar’s wheel on both the Cipressa and the Poggio. Still, the Brit now seems more at peace with the fact he did not win Sanremo straight away. “I’ve now proved that I’m strong enough to fight for victory. If I win it in the future, maybe it will feel even more deserved.”

Catalonia, coming so soon after that battle in La Primavera, arrived at a good moment for Pidcock. “The start list is incredibly strong, but I’ve got a good amount of confidence. In the last few days the race should come towards us, because it’s expected to be hard. Whether today’s stage suits me? No, I think it’s more one for the punchers.”

As it turned out, Pidcock was well wide of the mark with that final prediction, because the opening stage in Catalonia did prove selective enough for the GC men. UAE Emirates-XRG made the hilly finale extremely hard, and at one point even Jonas Vingegaard appeared on the front of the peloton. Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were active as well for Remco Evenepoel.

Pidcock stayed alert near the front and sprinted uphill to third place, behind Dorian Godon of INEOS Grenadiers and Evenepoel. “It was hard along the coast, constantly up and down. I went for it in the sprint, but I had to open a little too early. Once you then lose momentum, it’s basically over, but I think it was one of the best sprints I’ve ever done. I can be happy with that. My legs felt heavy before the start, but I felt good in that kind of power sprint,” he said afterwards.