Tom Pidcock will take a different approach to his road season in 2024, with the cobbled Classics taking a backseat as he switches full focus to the Ardennes Classic before mountain bike racing, the Tour de France and then the mountain bike race and perhaps even the road race at Paris Olympics.
Ineos Grenadiers unveiled his reduced cyclocross calendar yesterday with only 10 races on the schedule. His road calendar is also set to change for the coming season after three years of combining the Flemish cobbled races with the hilly Ardennes Classics.
When asked whether it was true the Brit would miss the cobbled Classics in 2024, Pidcock’s coach Kurt Bogaerts told Het Nieuwsblad “That is the intention.”
“Even though that is not yet 100 per cent certain. I think we are heading in the direction of the Ardennes classics with Tom,” said Bogaerts to the Flemish newspaper.
Pidcock won Strade Bianche in early March but it is unclear if the hilly Tuscan gravel race will be on his 2024 race programme. Paris-Nice could be a more important goal as Pidcock tests his WorldTour stage racing ability.
A final decision on Pidcock’s spring racing programme will be made at the Ineos Grenadiers December training camp.
“If you participate in all Flemish races, you are limited in terms of races that you can contest. If you want to do more than take part in a stage race à la the Volta ao Algarve and, for example, compete in Paris-Nice, then you have to start cutting back on your program.”
Pidcock has raced and performed well at races such as Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders in the past three seasons, but hasn’t managed better than a podium spot at the former and a fifth-place finish at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
His results at the Ardennes signal a much more likely route to success, having achieved top results of second at the Amstel Gold Race, sixth at La Flèche Wallone and second at this year’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the best result by a men's British rider at the Monument since 1988.
He couldn’t quite live with Remco Evenepoel or Tadej Pogačar during this year’s Ardennes but was consistent, despite his spring being disrupted due to a concussion sustained at Tirreno-Adriatico.
Bogaerts is confident Pidcock can step up to the level of Evenepoel and Pogačar, the winners of the last three editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, if he avoids injury and illness in his preparation.
“I don’t see any reason why he can’t compete with Pogačar and Evenepoel. We’ve not seen the best version of Tom on the road yet,” the Belgian told GCN.
“He was able to respond to the attack from Pogačar in Amstel and he just didn’t have the depth in his legs. It was the same with Remco on La Redoute. He could follow but he just missed a few per cent. He needs a clear run with no crashes or sickness.
"These other guys, his competitors, weren’t interrupted. Tom can go into battle with these guys, I’m confident of that.”
