After finishing second and third in previous editions of the Amstel Gold Race, Tom Pidcock finally got to stand on the top step of the podium, as he took his first victory of the season ahead of Marc Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot and Mauri Vansevenant in the sprint to the line at the end of a very attritional race.
Pidcock came very close to taking the victory at this race in 2021, narrowly missing out to Wout van Aert in a photo finish that was later deemed to have been placed in the incorrect position. Pidcock jokingly addressed this in his post-race interview, as he said “I was going to say ‘yeah it’s great to win for the second time’, but that might create some controversy”.
He also finished on the podium at last year’s edition behind Tadej Pogačar and Ben Healy, but did not have the legs on the day to follow the Slovenian rider when he made his move. Therefore, after two near-misses, this race would have been high up on the British rider’s list of targets for this season.
Pidcock has suffered some misfortune this season though, as a crash in the recon of the Itzulia Basque Country opening time trial took him out of that race and the harsh cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix last weekend left him with some severe blistering on his hands, which he still yet to recover from.
On what this victory means to him after the struggles he has faced, he said “it feels really good. This year has been so tough, I made big sacrifices being away from home so much, so to finally put it together and get the hands in the air, it means a lot”.
When asked why he enjoys racing at the Amstel Gold Race so much, he replied “I don’t know. I always just do a good race here. Today the team were fully behind me and Kwiato [Michał Kwiatkowski] is going really well, but he fully committed to me, so to be able to repay them is really special”.
Having gone into the final few hundred metres in a group with three other riders, it was clear that the race would be decided by who had the fastest legs at that point. On whether he was confident going into the sprint, Pidcock said “half-and-half, my hand after Roubaix meant that this week I was struggling to sprint, I had a lot of shoulder pain, because I couldn’t hold my bars properly, so yeah I was not so confident that was how it was going to end up”.
The Ineos Grenadiers rider made the decisive split on the Keutenberg with around 30km to go, moving himself up in the group in order to put himself into a good position to follow the attacks when they eventually came, going clear with ten other riders before bridging across to the two riders at the head of the race.
Speaking about whether he sensed that would be a decisive moment, Pidcock told the interviewer “I did. I knew that this was going to be the front group, whether more guys came across I don’t know, but I knew this was going to be the final here”.
All eyes were obviously on Mathieu van der Poel during the race after his recent victories at the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix. When asked whether he was surprised that the World Champion had not made the front split, Pidcock replied “I think everyone was looking at each other at that time in the race. I put in one attack and people followed, and then another one, Tiesj [Benoot] and someone else was with us and we were the last guys to go across to the front. It’s not always about legs at that point”.
Looking ahead to the remaining Ardennes Classics at La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège next week, Pidcock was asked what this victory means for the upcoming races, to which he responded “now that the pressure’s off, we can just go and race and do our best, and dare I say enjoy them. Although it probably won’t be so enjoyable when we’re in them. It’s a big relief to be honest”.
In 2023, Pidcock finished second behind Remco Evenepoel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and he has previously finished as high as sixth at La Flèche Wallonne in 2021. He will be looking to go one better than he did last year at La Doyenne next Sunday, as he continues to chase the first Monument victory of his career.
