Pinarello Q36.5 and Pidcock target Eschborn-Frankfurt on long road back to form

Tom Pidcock will start in Eschborn-Frankfurt on Friday, his team confirmed in a press release. The Briton has endured a difficult recent run — a serious crash in Spain followed by bad luck at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He lines up in the German one-day race with the goal of rebuilding his form.

Pidcock's season has been a tale of two halves. The Pinarello Q36.5 leader began brilliantly, with strong results at the Ruta del Sol and Clásica Jaén, before finishing second at Milan-San Remo and winning Milan-Turin outright.

Then came the setback. Pidcock suffered a serious crash into a ravine at the Volta a Catalunya, leaving him with a significant knee injury. He made a swift return at the Tour of the Alps, but the damage on the climbs was plain to see. He pushed on to start at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where mechanical misfortune at the worst possible moment left him finishing 101st.

In his search for top form, Pidcock now turns to Eschborn-Frankfurt. Pinarello Q36.5 are clear that their leader is not travelling to Germany with big expectations. "He will use the race as an opportunity to build rhythm and set himself back on an upward path," the team's statement reads.

This year's edition of the German one-day race features more climbing than usual in its course — well suited to the Brit's strengths. Among those Pidcock will face is the returning Michael Matthews, who missed the spring classics after a training crash. Matthew Brennan and Tobias Lund Andresen are also provisionally on the WorldTour start list. Pidcock's teammates have yet to be announced.