It was a day to forget for Tom Pidcock at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday as the British rider suffered badly in the cold weather, with the brutal change in temperatures from his training camp in Chile and the south of Spain taking their toll on the Pinarello-Q36.5 racer.
Riding Omloop for the second time in his career, Pidcock came into the race in top form following his win in the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía. But in Belgium, as temperatures dropped to below 10°C in a mixture of freezing rain and gusting winds, things went seriously awry.
TV cameras first caught sight of Pidcock struggling with a rain jacket in images reminiscent of his problems in the Clásica de Jaén, but according to his team that was not the main issue.
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Rather, Pinarello-Q36.5 sports director Jens Zemke told Cyclingnews, the problem was more that Pidcock found himself permanently on the back foot as a result of a series of incidents, which led to him being forced to chase to get back on, coupled with – above all – the poor weather.
Although he did complete the race, in 48th place, the Briton was never really in a position to contend, Zemke said.
"There was not a problem with his jacket, but he was frozen from the beginning," Zemke recounted.
"It was maybe also the first time we really touched the ice-cold winter here, after spending a lot of time in the south regions and in the sun. Even the recon two days ago was in good weather, that was [wearing] short pants.
"So with this change in the weather today, he wasn't feeling super, then he put his rain jacket on then off, his vest was on and off, he had a bit of hesitation and we could not really focus on him and position him. We were always busy with things."
The crunch moment for Pinarello-Q36.5 came before the Eikenberg, the fourth of the 15 climbs, and long before the full-on final action began. But that was when three Pinarellos went down, with Pidcock not falling, but somebody rode into his derailleur.
"We had to change his bike later on, I don't think he fell, but it was twisted," Zemke recounted. "So when we came to him he was in the third group."
Cue yet another reset, with Xandro Meurisse bringing him back up to the front ahead of the Muur de Geraardsbergen where despite a big crash, Aimé De Gendt – finally the team's best finisher – crested the climb twelfth behind Mathieu van de Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), whilst Pidcock was in 19th position.
"But then there was this gap ahead of him, so finally he was in the second group," Zemke explained, with De Gendt then claiming fifth on the line, whilst Pidcock slipped down to 48th. "And if I look over the complete day I would say that was the maximum outcome for us, to be honest."
Asked for a comparison to 2025, Zemke said that Pidcock's form is good, but "he struggled a lot with the weather, and that was the difference."
"Last year was much better weather. Form-wise he is absolutely up there, but the weather did not play into our hands."
After his bad luck at Nieuwsblad, Pidcock now heads to Strade Bianche, where hopefully he'll be more attuned to whatever the weather turns out to be in the south of Europe in a week's time.
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