Tom Pidcock rode across the line alone in Siena amidst cheers but it was a somber tone for a seventh-place finish at Strade Bianche.
Just one day before the Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling rider had predicted a repeat victory at the Tuscan race would be "ambitious", and it turned into more work than expected for his lowest finish in five outings due in large part to mechanicals and a futile chase of solo winner Tadej Pogačar.
Pidcock had to fight in a chase group that also included two of Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates in Isaac del Toro and Jan Christen, who went on to finish third and sixth, respectively.
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"I think you can feel a bit of sombreness here with everyone, with Visma there behind us as well. With UAE like that, there's not much you can do," Pidcock said.
Pogačar was expected to launch an attack to win the race for a fourth time, and UAE set him up on the Monte Sante Marie with 80km to go. That's where Pidcock suffered his mechanicals, dropping his chain twice.
The first came just as UAE were igniting the pace, and while Pidcock was still able to claw his way across to the nine-man split, disaster struck again when Pogačar flew away 4km into the sector and 79km from home. Pidcock accelerated and was the first to follow, but his chain went flying off again, and he was forced to slip back.
"I mean, I think my chain fell off twice on Sante Marie, and that really killed my momentum there," Pidcock said.
"But I wouldn't have been with Tadej anyway, I think. I don't think it changed the race much, apart from taking a bit more out of me."
Once across the first of two ascents of Colle Pinzuto, the sector named after Pogačar earlier this week, the chase group had grown to 15 riders. With the finish line looming 40km away and Pogačar carrying around a 1:30 lead, Pidcock attacked on the steep Le Tolfe section. He said he still thought there was enough space to close down the rider he wanted to beat, having finished second to the UAE rider last year in Siena.
Pidcock's attack found reaction from Christen, Del Toro, Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike), as five made separation from other chasers, but the Slovenian maintained his lead over the second pass of the Colle Pinzuto.
"It's so difficult when you're in the group behind, when you know the race is gone. I mean, you can always think, 'this is just the race now', but it's not really how it is when one guy's in front."
Pidcock's hopes of a podium then faded on the second ascent of Colle Pinzuto, where Seixas and Del Toro went clear of the other chasers and went on to complete the podium.
"And then on the Colle Pinzuto, I was just too far back, and then it was not really that fun, to be honest," Pidcock said.
"I ran out of legs in the final as well," he added, having lost contact with Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ-United), Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), and Christen on the steep final climb of the Via Santa Caterina.
Pidcock rode into Siena in seventh, an accomplishment that gave him a fifth top 10 at the race, but left him with little satisfaction.
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