Tom Pidcock addresses this 111th edition of Tour de France with ambition and desire. While the British training INEOS Grenadiers enters four riders at the start – Egan Bernal, Carlos Rodriguez, Geraint Thomas et Pidcock – who are capable of achieving a good general ranking, Pidcock would be more of a free electron than his co-leaders. The main objective of the Briton is simple “I want to try to win stages”he declared at a press conference this Wednesday.
Video – Tom Pidcock at a press conference before the Tour de France
“There are different ways to support each other and we want to come out of this race successfully”
“I want to race aggressively, try to win stages”began Pidcock. “I would like not to lose time in the general classification but maybe I should do it to achieve my goals. With the Olympics too, it is difficult. In addition, with Egan (Bernal), Carlos (Rodriguez) and G (Geraint Thomas), all three of whom are more experienced than me, we can’t really go there with four leaders”observed honestly, Tom Pidcock.
A quartet that could represent tension in the team, but the INEOS Grenadiers decided to create a force. “Having all four of us at the start is a strength that can work to our advantage to try to beat the other opponents”has explained Pidcock. “There are different ways to support each other and we want to come out of this race with success. If in the last week we have to fight for just one guy for the podium, we will do it, of course.”
“In my role of seeking stage victories, I can be freer”
Tom Pidcock could play a valuable role by winning one or more stages, less pressure for the team… As for him, he would try to align his general objectives with this ambition otherwise, it will be for the next few years, as he previously announced. “We are all very ambitious but in my role of going for stage victories, I can be freer and that will also help the team. Winning stages takes the pressure off, each team is under pressure to perform. When we see how the team’s Tour of Italy went, it’s nice to see and that’s what we want to do here.”
Although he was not necessarily cited as one of the favorites to win the first two very difficult stages of this Tour de France and wear the yellow jersey, Tom Pidcock admitted there : “of course it’s possible. This is what I’ve been dreaming about for the past few weeks and I’ve been training really hard for it. Of course, there are a lot of guys who have the same dreams here. It won’t be It’s not easy but we’ll try.”
