Déjà-vu for Tom Pidcock as jacket removal mistake leads to impressive but futile fightback at Clásica Jaén

There was a sense of déjà-vu for Tom Pidcock at the Clásica Jaén on Monday. Just like on the opening day of the Vuelta a Murcia two days prior, he had shown immense strength, but victory had already escaped him due to a combination of his own mistakes and the strength of the UAE Team Emirates squad.

Pidcock, who missed Tim Wellens’ race-defining bridge to the breakaway in Murcia while he was taking a gel on board, suffered a similar setback on Monday when the peloton split at the moment he was trying to remove his jacket.

Wellens was in the move, attacked out of it, and went on to win the race with a 54km solo effort. Pidcock had to settle for second place, although that itself was an impressive feat given the ground he had to make up.

“Because the break was taking so long to go, and we were coming close to the gravel, it was clear there wasn’t going to be a moment,” Pidcock explained of his decision to address his clothing issues at that point in the race.

"I needed to take off the clothes I started in, because it was super cold this morning. There was one big group that went, and I kind of went across, and I was trying to take off my jacket, and suddenly there were 30 guys up the road, and I missed it.

“It’s one of those things, a mistake, but luckily I could get back in the race.”

Pinarello-Q36.5 began to play a different card up, as Mark Donovan went away with Wellens out front, but the chasing group in which Pidcock found himself possessed enough firepower and cohesion not to completely lose touch with the race.

On the Mar de Olivos gravel climb with just over 50km to go, where Wellens dropped Donovan, Pidcock attacked from the chase and muscled his way into the main group. From there, he was a leading force, launching repeated accelerations to emerge in the finale with just two riders for company.

One of them, however, was Jan Christen, teammate of Wellens, who hung on to take the top step of the podium. Pidcock crossed the line in second place, and Christen finished third, but he was later disqualified from the race for deviating from his line, which caused Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to crash in the three-up sprint.

“When I missed this move in the start, to be honest, I thought my race was over at that point,” Pidcock admitted. “But Soudal-QuickStep made the gap close enough that I could go across on the first climb. Then we were back in the race, but Tim was already gone. My team was incredibly strong today, but Tim was stronger.

“Fair play to UAE, said before start super diff to beat them so many strong guys, they did same again, with the numbers it’s super hard to anything.”

After his podium at the truncated Vuelta a Murcia, the Clásica Jaén marks another podium for Pidcock in what has been a strong start to the season, which continues this week at the Vuelta a Andalucía – Ruta del Sol.

“It’s not bad. Like I say, I made a mistake,” Pidcock said.

“My team was super strong today, which I can be very happy about. I felt ok but the days in Murcia were not ideal with the cancellations and travelling around. It’s nice to get a good race in the legs before Ruta.”