Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) was unable to challenge the finale of stage 3 at the Tour de France and admitted that he felt 'cooked' as searing heat on the Spain-France border played a major role in Monday's finish.
The British rider would've been a major contender on paper for the 1.7km climb to the line near Les Angles, with an average gradient of 6.5% suiting his characteristics as a top puncheur and explosive climber.
But after almost five hours of being melted in the peloton, Pidcock could only manage 16th, 18 seconds down and well away from contesting the win, which was taken by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) in a dominant sprint.
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"I think more the story is how bloody hot it was all day. I don't think I've done such a hard race in such heat before; it was ridiculous," said Pidcock at the finish.
"It was like a warzone. I think we went through about 10,000 bidons today as a peloton. I just didn't have anything in the final; I was a bit cooked, so that was some day."
After a long fight to get into the breakaway, first Visma-Lease a Bike and then Pogačar's UAE team worked to bring back the 18 riders who had eventually got up the road, with the Emirati squad ensuring the world champion would have a chance at the victory.
As he was led out by Isaac del Toro and looked every bit the invincible force he has in the past two Tours, Pogačar moved into yellow and paid back all his teammates' hard work in the heat, with their first yellow jersey of the 2026 edition, wresting it from the control of Vingegaard.
Pidcock doesn't think anyone else would've been able to do what they managed on Monday, though, let alone in such tough conditions, with temperatures well above 30 for all of the stage.
"I think [UAE] obviously had so much confidence from yesterday that they could do that… and they can," he added. "I think they are the only team who could control a day like that today, and well, they did it for a reason, didn't they? It worked."
After three hard-fought opening days of racing in Spain and now finally in France, Pidcock is still well positioned in 11th overall, 1:22 away from the lead of Pogačar and less than a minute behind the other podium sitters.
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