With Liège-Bastogne-Liège just four days away this Sunday, a victory for Tom Pidcock (Pinarello Q36.5) on stage 3 of the Tour of the Alps has come at the perfect time, but he confirmed post-race that he is still well away from his best.
He revealed at the finish that he was dropped on the first 22km climb of Wednesday's stage, and only after coming back in the cars and making it to the second 14km categorised ascent of the day did he start to believe a win was possible.
Pinarello Q36.5 got to work, and they contributed to both chasing down the early breakaway in the final 5km and adding some degree of control to the cagey, tactical run for home in Arco. With Pidcock in the mix, he launched an early sprint after diving through the final corner at breakneck speed, with enough in the legs to claim the victory – his third in 2026.
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Returning to action at the Tour of the Alps less than a month on from his horror ravine crash at the Volta a Catalunya, where he suffered knee ligament damage, Pidcock may be getting results, but he didn't hide that he's been struggling his way around the racing in Südtirol.
"This win feels really nice. I come here, I'm suffering – it's completely the opposite of before my crash. Mentally, it's super challenging," said Pidcock at the finish.
"The last time I was racing, I was one of the strongest guys in every race I was doing, and now today on the first climb, I was dropped. I just made it over the top, and it's tough.
"But when we came over the second big climb, I said to the guys, 'OK, we ride for the stage'. I think that's the mentality that we had, that we would try. They committed 100% even though I am really not in the best shape, and I gave everything. I went into the last corner in first and held on till the line. It was perfect."
His results may paint somewhat of a different picture, finishing second on the opening stage and first on stage 3, but the proof of his lack of top form is clear in his result from stage 2, when he was well off the pace of the GC favourites and finished 74th, 6:52 behind race leader Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Such are his struggles that Pidcock even told Domestique his return to competition had been "Terrible, awful" on the opening day. "It was like we were going full gas up every climb; it was the worst day ever on the bike."
Perhaps testament to his mental strength as a rider, though, even just two days on from that low point and after being dropped early in the stage, Pidcock still had the confidence to put his team to work and the ability to finish it off.
"I think it's sometimes difficult to be confident and do that, because you're just setting yourself up for failure sometimes, but no, I think I can be super happy," he said.
"I went too early for that last corner; I thought it was sooner when the barriers started and it was quite far, so I was a bit worried. But I saw Egan [Bernal] was the first guy on my wheel, so I thought… Egan is not slow, but I can beat Egan in a sprint, and I just went full to the line."
The signs are good, nonetheless, for Liège, even with the ongoing lack of peak shape, and Pidcock confirmed that it would be after Friday's final stage that he and his team head for Wallonia in Belgium.
While the two remaining days of racing in Northern Italy and Austria conclude with downhill and then flat finishes, which would suit even this version of Pidcock, he was quick to note how "There's also a lot of climbs before that," and how "that's the problem at the moment," for him.
All in all, he may lack the legs to really compete with the likes of Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Amstel Gold Race winner Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and newly-crowned La Flèche Wallonne champion Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) come the next Monument Classic of 2026 on Sunday, but the Briton's condition is heading in the right direction.
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