“Is Tom Pidcock wasting his talent and time racing off-road?” asks former Vuelta winner – after British star dominates mountain bike races a week before Tour de France starts; Snow on the Galibier a week before the Tour arrives + more on the live blog

As we all know by now, the last few years in professional cycling, thanks to the varied exploits of Marianne Vos, Wout van Aert, Fem van Empel, and Mathieu van der Poel, have witnessed the rise of the multidisciplinary star.

That trend was never more apparent than at the weekend, when Tom Pidcock – Olympic mountain bike gold medallist, former cyclocross world champion, and Alpe d’Huez conqueror – rocked up to the UCI MTB World Series in Crans-Montana, just a week before he will line up in Florence for the start of the Tour de France.

And not only did Pidcock swap the road and time trial bike for some knobbly tyres in Switzerland, he also put in two imperious, crushing displays – overcoming a mechanical and early crash to rip through the field and go from dead last to first on Saturday’s short-track event, before dominating the cross-country race the following day, beating Switzerland’s Mathias Fluckiger by over a minute, in an ominous showing ahead of title defence at the Paris Olympics.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by UCI Mountain Bike (@uci_mountainbike)

Very impressive.

One retired racer who wasn’t as impressed with the 24-year-old Ineos rider’s off-road exploits was Chris Horner, the former Astana, Lotto, and RadioShack pro whose 2013 Vuelta a España win over Vincenzo Nibali at the age of 41 still ranks as one of the more, ahem, surprising grand tour triumphs in recent memory.

[The road.cc legal team have informed me that I’m not allowed to say anything else about the 2013 Vuelta…]

But anyway, Horner took to his YouTube channel – like any American pro of the noughties tends to do – to question Pidcock’s decision to race his mountain bike so close to the Tour, asking whether he was “wasting his talent” by devoting so much time to the off-road side of the sport.

“I’m thinking dumbfoundedly, why would he be at the short-track mountain bike event in Switzerland?” Horner asked. “Why would he be racing there, instead of recovering fully after the Tour de Suisse, followed by training and then recovery before the Tour de France in one week’s time?

“To place it into perspective, Tom Pidcock has won five races in four seasons,” Horner continues.

Of course, Chris, those wins do include an Amstel Gold, Strade Bianche, and a Tour de France stage victory atop Alpe d’Huez. Sure, they’re no Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah or Tour of Langkawi stage win, but not too shabby, I’m sure you’d agree.

“He has some fantastic wins, no doubt about it,” the former RadioShack rider concurred. “And he finished sixth overall the Tour de Suisse, and had a great final time trial. So he’s starting to show he can do great time trials too.”

Horner on the way to his 2013 Vuelta win (Unipublic/Graham Watson)

But then Horner explained that the window to recover and train for the Tour de France following the Tour de Suisse is small – compared to the Dauphiné, which ends the week before – and that Pidcock’s weekend spent racing his mountain bike at Crans-Montana was eating into that “precious” pre-Tour recovery time.

“You’re like ‘Chris, he won’, but I still wonder whether the sponsors, team Ineos, Pidcock himself – are they really wasting his effort?” the 52-year-old asked.

“In past interviews, he said he gets bored as a domestique at the Tour, he wants to be aggressive, he wants to be attacking. And I assume cyclocross and mountain biking is more exciting than a flat day at the Tour, but you’re winning against a bunch of riders who aren’t paid very much salary, they’re not really professional, I bet half the field has a side job during the winter.

(Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

“So when you’re winning over there, instead of at the Tour de France, I think you’re being wasted. I think Tom Pidcock is wasting his time.

“It may be good for the sponsors, but when I’m watching him win a 20-minute event a week before the Tour, I’m seeing a young rider, with his victories he has and the ability he has to be able to follow Tadej Pogačar or Remco Evenepoel, or finish high on GC at the Tour de Suisse – what I really see is a wasted two-week period before the Tour.

“And I see a rider, who can go top 10 in all these events, and he’s getting ready to start the Tour de France… And instead he’s on the mountain bike, it’s ridiculous.”

However, despite Horner’s pure roadie claims of wasted talent, his YouTube comments section was brimming with support for Pidcock mixing it up and enjoying racing his bike.

“Completely disagree,” said Axel. “What worked for Chris in his career, in his time, with his style of training, with his priorities, worked for him. Pidcock is one of my favourite riders precisely because of his versatility and ability to win in different disciplines within cycling. His enjoyment and success stems from doing just that.

“Matter of fact, his mountain bike skills are arguably the reason why he even has a TDF stage win at all, as MTB descending gives you so much confidence once you step on a road bike and launch yourself down Alpe d’Huez at inhuman speeds.”

(Alex Broadway/SWpix.com)

“We’re all not road snobs. I really appreciate Pidcock elevating MTB racing. I’m sure his bike sponsor is happy and he’s well compensated. The TDF is not the end all be all to a lot of us bike fans,” said James.

“He’s at Crans-Montana because of the Olympics,” noted Andrew. “The more mountain bike World Cup points he has, the better his starting position in the Olympics. Given the rest of the World Cup mountain bikers aren’t road cyclists, they’re banking points week in week out, Pidcock has limited opportunities.

“Pinarello will be paying a big chunk of his wage and an Olympic gold medal, in general in the UK, is held in much higher regard than a TDF stage (Pinarello developed their MTB just for him and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot). A second gold, in the UK, would massively increase his worth and this will be his last big push. Once this Olympic cycle is done he’ll switch 100 per cent over to the road.”

However, some also agreed that 2024 would mark the end of Pidcock’s road, cyclocross, and MTB juggling act.

“I think this is the last acceptable year for this multitasking. He does have the Olympics this year and an Olympic gold is huge for Britain and I’m sure Pidcock feels the same. And as he’s still young he hasn’t missed out on any prime years yet,” wrote Enda.

“But for the next three years it would be honestly ridiculous for him not to hang up the mountain bike for the summer and target Grand Tours. With his punch, sprint, climbing, light weight, and technical skills he absolutely can win a Vuelta at the very least.”

Fair point. But still, if Pidcock adds another Olympic gold to his collection this summer, I doubt he’ll look back when he’s retired and view the early years of his career on the mountain bike as “wasted”…

Now that most of the teams have announced their Tour de France squads, we can finally spend the next four days checking the form, picking, unpicking, deliberating, and doubting every decision we make, as we all prepare for the biggest competition of the year: the road.cc Tour Fantasy League!

> Sign up for road.cc’s 2024 Tour de France Fantasy Cycling here

And your resident blogger is feeling the pressure to build upon his promising 10th place overall from last year’s Tour.

Now I know how Jonas, Tadej, and Remco feel this week…

Wilier’s new all-rounder, the Verticale SLR, is a climber's dream with a brand new lightweight cockpit and frame (amounting to a 10 per cent weight reduction on its predecessor), and you’ll need at least £9,000 to own one.

And by our calculations, the frame, fork, and seatpost combined are a shade lighter than even Specialized’s flagship road bike, the SL8. Anyone want to lend me around £9,000?

> Wilier unveils its "lightest ever bike", the Verticale SLR... and it's (we think) even lighter than the Specialized Tarmac SL8

The final figures for the total amount spent on the 2023 UCI World Championships held in Glasgow are expected to exceed the budget by almost 20% to reach a total of “at least £63 million”, with reports suggesting that the Scottish Government will have to pay a share of almost £40 million, exceeding the figure of £30 million it had initially committed for the event.

> Total cost of hosting Glasgow World Championships to exceed budget by 20% as reports claim Scottish Government spent £9 million to improve cycling facilities

If you design cities around car traffic, don't be surprised if children no longer play outside.

If you design cities around active transport, don't be surprised if children ask you to go cycling after dinner. pic.twitter.com/4rRxaYJ1JB

— De Filmende Fietser (@FilmendeFietser) June 24, 2024

More news involving American Vuelta a España winners this morning (and there are only two of them), as Visma-Lease a Bike announced this morning that Sepp Kuss has been withdrawn from their Tour de France squad after failing to recover sufficiently from the bout of Covid he contracted during the Critérium du Dauphiné.

The 29-year-old climber, who took a popular overall win at the Vuelta last season after years spent shepherding Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič over mountains for the Dutch squad, is the second high-profile rider to fall victim to Covid and miss out on the Tour, after Tao Geoghegan Hart pulled out of Lidl-Trek’s team last week.

According to Visma-Lease a Bike this morning, Kuss withdrew on the penultimate day of this month’s Dauphiné, where he put in a surprisingly subdued performance and failed to stick with the best on the climbs, with mild Covid symptoms.

While the team thought he had recovered in time for the Tour, his illness returned in recent days, with his spot in the team now going to debutant Bart Lemmen.

TDF line-up change 🔁

Sepp Kuss has not recovered sufficiently from Covid and will not start in @LeTour. Bart Lemmen is his replacement.

Get well soon, Sepp! 🍀 pic.twitter.com/JXFEe73nSw

— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) June 25, 2024

Kuss’ absence is another bitter blow for a Visma-Lease a Bike team that has been plagued by bad luck and injuries this season, as doubts still hang over the form and fitness of reigning double Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard, with the Dane yet to race since his horror crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April, while vital all-rounder Wout van Aert is also on the path to recovery after crashing heavily during the spring classics.

“This is of course very hard for Sepp in the first place. His contribution is always very important in the team, but then of course he has to be completely fit,” DS Merijn Zeeman said today.

“Unfortunately, we had to conclude together today that this is insufficiently the case, after Covid. He now needs to recover properly and will therefore not start. Fortunately, we have a good replacement ready with Bart Lemmen.”

In case you missed it last night, Police Scotland have said that they “don’t tend to” carry out cyclist close operations on A roads, due to safety concerns for their bike-riding officers, after one cyclist complained of consistently dangerous driving and frequent close passes on the A92 between Inverbervie and Montrose, which forms part of the National Cycle Network, ironically enough.

Read more: > Police claim they don’t carry out close pass operations on A roads due to “safety element involved towards police cyclists” — after cyclist complains of dangerous driving and “20 closes passes in a day” on national cycle route