The podium placings had begun rolling for Tom Pidcock and his Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling team in the early season races but the top spot had been illusive, so the relief was clear as the British rider changed that on Sunday on the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía.
The final ascent of the Alto de la Primera was where Pidcock made his move, with the team massing on the front ahead of the launch with 1km still to go to the top.
“I knew today was going to be tricky because the climb was so fast. You know, it was over 30k an hour average on this climb," said Pidcock in a team statement.
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"Once at the hardest point, I said to myself, I'm just going to attack. I think [Jan] Christen followed me for a little bit and then I managed to gap him and held on to the finish. I just had to keep going to the finish.”
The 26-year-old used his descending prowess to advantage through the final five-kilometre run to the line, and while the pursuit was fierce, Pidcock managed to keep the gap to Christen to 10 seconds on the line, with the next chase group of five a further two seconds back.
The celebration at Lucena came after some early season misses, starting with Pidcock's season debut at the opening stage of Vuelta a Murcia when he proved the strongest in a decimated peloton but it was only enough to net him third as UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Marc Soler and Julius Johansen had already snared the top two spots from the break. He had missed a crucial opportunity to bridge to that break when he was taking a gel on board just as Tim Wellens' crucial attack to bridge took place.
Then, just days later at Clásica Jaén the Pinarello Q36.5 leader was denied the top spot once again by UAE Team Emirates-XRG and this time Pidcock was taking off his jacket when a key split occurred. Pidcock initially thought his race was over at this point but then bridged to the move. Still, Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) had already gone by that point and was beyond reach so, despite his evident strength, it was second for Pidcock.
The earlier stages of the Vuelta a Andalucia hadn't delivered either, with eighth on stage 3 having been the best result of the tour for Pidock, until Sunday at least.
"Yesterday I was getting really frustrated that, you know, we trained so hard this winter. We made a big commitment. We went to Chile. We put in so much work and yeah, we missed opportunities here also," said Pidcock after the stage.
"I was getting frustrated that we wasted opportunities but today we took it. The team was great. I finished it off so it makes it all worthwhile.”
