Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) said João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) shouted at him to "grow some balls'" as the pair tried to chase down a solo Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) up the final climb on stage 9 of the Vuelta a España.
In a huge boost for Pidcock's general classification ambitions – which he signalled as finishing in the top 10 in Madrid – the Brit finished second on the stage to close out the first week in fine fashion, and now sits in fourth overall, 1:35 behind race leader Torstein Træen (Bahrain Victorious).
He was unable to respond to the initial move made by Visma, with Matteo Jorgenson leading out a huge surge by Vingegaard, which only Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek responded to, but stayed patient up the 13.3km ascent, following Almeida's wheel as the UAE rider tried, mostly on his own, to bring back his key rival.
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"I felt really good when Ciccone and Jonas went. Of course, it's always difficult to follow when Jonas has four teammates between you and him, and Trek are on the front, you know," Pidcock told reporters after he sat on metal steps outside the ski station, downed some cherry juice and checked his numbers.
"But I thought Almeida's was the perfect wheel to go on, and I thought maybe we'd come back, but chapeau to him – I couldn't give him any turns. He was shouting at me, but he's like a tractor, you know, especially when we got on this flatter section. Then the last kilometre when he went, it was impressive, I could only just come round him at the finish, but I'm happy to be honest."
Pidcock then laughed as he confirmed what exactly Almeida had been shouting at him, admitting that it was a case of legs, not anything strategic, as to why he didn't pull through until the latter stages of the climb.
"He told me to grow some balls," Pidcock laughed, "but if he rides a bit slower, I'll give him some more turns."
Pidcock's ultimate goal for this Vuelta lies also with a stage win, which would be his first at a Grand Tour since he won atop Alpe d'Huez back in 2022, and though that went up the road to the Dane today, he was nonetheless delighted with the progress shown in his GC ability.
"Obviously, it's really good for [GC]. Of course, we wanted to go for a stage, but Jonas is Jonas, and you shouldn't give him a gap, but I could be happy with that," said Pidcock of his second place.
"I think it's difficult to fully know what my capabilities are – sometimes I'm a bit cautious, but today definitely gives me confidence going into the harder stages that are to come."
He also stayed careful, knowing not to get carried away with where the progress on stage 9 now places him. Yes, he gained more than a minute on almost every GC contender except for the two pre-race favourites, Almeida and Vingegaard, but climbs such as the Angliru and Bola del Mundo are not where the Brit has thrived previously – Sunday's single climb effort was arguably perfect for his punch, and the second week should truly reveal where he stands as a GC contender.
Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) was the only other rider who was close to following the very best on stage 9, having initially followed Almeida's pace too, but he was dropped before the finale, losing 1:02 to Vingegaard and 38 seconds to Pidcock and Almeida.
"I mean, I always kind of thought that when these guys are jumping around doing full sprints on the middle climbs, that one day it's going to bite them back," said Pidcock when asked about the GC shake-up, after Ciccone and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) were among those who lost time. "But it's a long way to go – I'm not taking any conclusions from it yet."
Today also proved again how Q36.5 are punching above their weight at this year's Vuelta a España, with Pidcock's support squad, alongside Lidl-Trek, doing the lion's share of the work when it came to bringing back the five-man early breakaway.
With Pidcock's confidence at a high, they will be vital to his GC bid, and could be seen more in the second and third week if he feels his form is at a similar level to where it was on Sunday.
"They commit 100 per cent for me, and this I can be super grateful for," said Pidcock. "It's a great group of guys, and we're having good fun here, and I think the opportunity to ride these Grand Tours this year, we have to make the most of it – they're doing great."
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