Just two days after narrowly finishing second to Tadej Pogačar at Milan-San Remo, Tom Pidcock has looked to turn away from his understandable initial disappointment, saying how losses like last Saturday's are what make victories all the more sweet when they do come.
The Brit survived all of the World Champion's accelerations on the Cipressa, after Pogačar returned from his crash, and then survived in his wheel where Mathieu van der Poel couldn't up the Poggio, before losing out in the sprint by half a wheel.
Pidcock spoke of feeling "bittersweet" and all the "what ifs" in the hours after the epic edition, but his maturity shone through as he reflected on the race ahead of his next challenge at the seven-stage Volta a Catalunya this week.
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"I feel much better about it now. I think, actually, winning by such close margins, [but] also losing by such close margins, is what makes the times when you win better," Pidcock told CyclingProNet before the start of stage 1 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
"I think also, if I'd won, it would have been like... I'd never been on the podium there and then I win, it's a bit of a fluke, but now I prove I'm strong enough to challenge for the win. So hopefully, in the future, if I can win, it's more deserved if you like."
My viewPidcock suggesting that him winning would have been a fluke is a level of modesty that, for me, does him a disservice. Yes, he hadn't been on the podium in San Remo before, as he notes, but after a late attack on the Via Roma, he was only denied in the last couple of hundred metres in 2024 by Mathieu van der Poel pulling all out for Jasper Philipsen.
Pogačar crashing hard, then still managing to do what he did, may make him look at the race differently, but even after he did similarly at Strade Bianche last year, Pidcock couldn't live with his final attacks; no one could. He's improved massively since joining Pinarello Q36.5, as have the whole team, and they positioned him in all of the right places to both avoid the pre-Cipressa crash and be on the World Champion's wheel when he did attack.
He may have pulled less in the finale and tried to ensure he had the maximum left for the sprint – correct to do in the face of someone like Pogačar – but him coming over the top would not have been a fluke. A career-best win – probably yes, but not a fluke – there's a reason no one else was with them at the finish.
On to Catalunya
With that special performance in the bank, Pidcock did head straight for northern Spain, where he'll need to get into stage racing mode to face off with a stacked start list, notably featuring Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and João Almeida.
Racing kicks off on Monday with an undulating finale heading back to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, but the general classification will be decided over three tough mountain days from stages 4 to 6, and the typical punchy up-and-down day around Barcelona's Montjuïc hill – which suits him perfectly on paper – brings racing to a close on stage 7.
"I think the start list is super strong. Obviously, I have a good amount of confidence, which is nice," said Pidcock. "The race will come to us all in the final few days, it's a hard final."
He also made it clear that his focus will be on those climbing days, an area where he showed huge improvement by finishing third at last year's Vuelta a España, by detailing how the punchy stage 1 finale isn't one he's expecting to target.
"No, I don't think so, I think it's more of a puncheurs stage," he said to the question of whether stage 1 was in his sights. "That maybe would have been different if there was a tailwind along the coast, but with the headwind, that will make it a little more defensive."
