Champion Pidcock for once happy to settle for second best

EVEN a natural-born winner like Tom Pidcock, for whom second place normally means first loser, sometimes has to accept that’s as good as he could have achieved.

On a multitude of occasions, Yorkshire’s prolific and versatile cyclist has not been content with a podium spot. In Harrogate at the 2019 UCI Road World Championships when he was promoted from fourth to third in the Under-23 men’s road race, he greeted the medal with an ‘I came to win’ scowl across his face.

In Helmsley last September, second place in his home leg of the Tour of Britain was greeted as a defeat.

There have been plenty of wins of course; a cyclo-cross world title, an Olympic mountain bike gold medal and a Tour de France stage win on the Alpe d’Huez.

He even won a first Spring Classic at Strade Bianchi last month.

But on Sunday, Pidcock was left to accept he was beaten by the better man as Belgium’s world road race champion and last year’s Vuelta Espana winner Remco Evenepoel triumphed at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the prestigious Monument Classic.

Pidcock, 23, was the only rider who could respond to Evenepoel’s acceleration up La Redoute but he was eventually distanced by the Belgian superstar.

Pidcock then won a three-man sprint to claim second.

"I measured my effort on La Redoute, as I knew I could close the gap on the descent,” said Pidcock, whose famous descent of Alpe d’Huez won him a stage at his debut Tour de France last summer.

"Then the next climb, I was on the limit and I knew I could either commit full gas and end up with nothing, or wait a bit and try and go for second. I still finished with second so that plan paid off.

"I didn’t have so much luck in previous years of this race. I was ill the first year and didn't start, last year I was also sick in the race, so it was my first successful Liege so I can take this as a positive. "My ambition is to win and I want to win, but Remco was incredibly strong today. It's my first podium in a Monument so I can be happy with this."

Pidcock, who now heads off to the mountain bike World Cup series, can be proud of a strong Classics campaign, as can Tadej Pogacar, who won two Ardennes Classics and has 12 race wins to his name this season.

However, the Slovenian’s participation in the Tour de France – which he has won twice – is in doubt after he suffered a wrist injury which will require surgery after a crash during Liege-Bastogne-Liege.