Pidcock in fifth as Van drives home
TOM PIDCOCK enhanced his growing reputation with a fifthplaced finish in the men’s Strade Bianche in Siena yesterday.
The Brit, 21, proved he is up to speed with the world’s best after the Ineos Grenadiers rider narrowly missed out on a podium place on his debut World Tour season.
Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel’s late attack saw him power up to the Piazza del Campo alone to win the race on the gravel roads of Tuscany.
“It is one of the races I really wanted to win, I felt really good. I launched an attack in the last gravel section and then I still had something left,” said Van der Poel (above).
“I gave everything. It was amazing to finish off this way.”
It was a case of double Dutch as Chantal van den Broek-Blaak claimed victory in the women’s race.
Lizzie Banks was the highest placed Brit, back in 48th place.
SNOOKER
FORMER world champion Shaun Murphy suffered a shock 4-1 defeat to Anthony Hamilton in round three of the Gibraltar Open.
And Ali Carter lost 4-2 to Thailand’s Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are casting out “dredging nets” to ensure they don’t miss out on the country’s best young players.
And the youngsters who don’t end up making it are paying a heavy price.
That’s the warning from Pete Lowe, Manchester City’s former head of education and performance management and the founder of PlayersNet, which provides support to the huge proportion of players who don’t make it into the professional game.
Lowe said: “The failure rate is phenomenally high. The whole system is flawed – it’s on the edge of breaking point.
“When I was at City you would have something like 22 or 24 players in the Under-14 age band. Now you can sign 30.
“For every fixture, you’ve probably got 10 or more players who aren’t getting a game – where are they playing their football?
“We release more players because clubs are entitled to sign more players.
“Clubs have the option to throw out a dredging net now – how is that excellence?”
The parlous financial state of clubs below the top flight has been highlighted by the pandemic.
Lowe warned: “People will blame the virus for the problem, but the real problem is the way we’ve structured and ordered the game in this country.
“Many clubs were living hand-to-mouth – if we don’t get some closures, I would be stunned.”
According to Premier League stats, of those from the 2018-2020 PL Academy player cohort, 74.2% received a pro contract or had their contract extended.