Tom Pidcock will take a distinct strategy to his highway season in 2024, with the cobbled Classics taking a backseat as he switches full focus to the Ardennes Traditional earlier than mountain bike racing, the Tour de France after which the mountain bike race and maybe even the highway race at Paris Olympics.
Ineos Grenadiers unveiled his decreased cyclocross calendar yesterday with solely 10 races on the schedule. His highway calendar can be set to alter for the approaching season after three years of mixing the Flemish cobbled races with the hilly Ardennes Classics.
When requested whether or not it was true the Brit would miss the cobbled Classics in 2024, Pidcock’s coach Kurt Bogaerts advised Het Nieuwsblad “That’s the intention.”
“Though that’s not but 100 per cent sure. I feel we’re heading within the course of the Ardennes classics with Tom,” stated Bogaerts to the Flemish newspaper.
Pidcock gained Strade Bianche in early March however it’s unclear if the hilly Tuscan gravel race will probably be on his 2024 race programme. Paris-Good may very well be a extra necessary aim as Pidcock assessments his WorldTour stage racing potential.
A last choice on Pidcock’s spring racing programme will probably be made on the Ineos Grenadiers December coaching camp.
“When you take part in all Flemish races, you’re restricted when it comes to races you can contest. If you wish to do greater than participate in a stage race à la the Volta ao Algarve and, for instance, compete in Paris-Good, then you must begin chopping again in your program.”
Pidcock has raced and carried out properly at races similar to Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders previously three seasons, however hasn’t managed higher than a podium spot on the former and a fifth-place end at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
His outcomes on the Ardennes sign a more likely path to success, having achieved high outcomes of second on the Amstel Gold Race, sixth at La Flèche Wallone and second at this yr’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the very best consequence by a males’s British rider on the Monument since 1988.
He couldn’t fairly reside with Remco Evenepoel or Tadej Pogačar throughout this yr’s Ardennes however was constant, regardless of his spring being disrupted resulting from a concussion sustained at Tirreno-Adriatico.
Bogaerts is assured Pidcock can step as much as the extent of Evenepoel and Pogačar, the winners of the final three editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, if he avoids damage and sickness in his preparation.
“I don’t see any motive why he can’t compete with Pogačar and Evenepoel. We’ve not seen the very best model of Tom on the highway but,” the Belgian advised GCN.
“He was ready to reply to the assault from Pogačar in Amstel and he simply didn’t have the depth in his legs. It was the identical with Remco on La Redoute. He may comply with however he simply missed just a few per cent. He wants a transparent run with no crashes or illness.
“These different guys, his rivals, weren’t interrupted. Tom can go into battle with these guys, I’m assured of that.”