Having been something of a serial winner this season already, a newly invigorated Tom Pidcock told assembled media pre-Omloop Het Nieuwsblad that on paper at least, he is a far stronger rider than this time last year
"If you look at my numbers, you can't compare them, I'm not very similar. I'm much better," he said, although he added: "But that doesn't always relate to races."
The flying start he has enjoyed with new team Q36.5 at the AlUla Tour and the Vuelta a Andalucia has put last year's early performances in the shade, with the Yorkshireman crediting much of his newfound success to his new team.
When it was pointed out to him that he has almost doubled his total pro wins in two short races, he responded: "A lot of my wins at Ineos [Grenadiers] were bigger races. The number is one thing [but also] I really wanted to start out well. Also I'm a better rider now and that's because of this team and the people in it who are now supporting me.
He added: "I'm more like I used to be."
"I was really focused on and motivated to try and start well," he said, "that was really important for me. I've managed to do that. Now it's taking it into other races."
It also suggests that his rivals for Omloop ought to be on their guard. For his part, Pidcock seemed confident but at the same time on his guard.
"I know my shape is good so it's nice to go into this race with those feelings," he said. "But this race is a difficult race for me to win compared to other Classics. I've always struggled on the Mur and the Bosberg, so to be honest, it will be easy for me to do better than I've done before in this race.
With Omloop Het Nieuwsblad the only cobbled race on the Pidcock planner, he said:
"The Ardennes suit me well… so the idea of coming here is this is a nice race that I'm famililar with and I think it's good to set up the rest of the Classics. I enjoy racing in Belgium."
More than once he pointed out that Q36.5, as a smaller ProTeam-ranked outfit, are under considerably less pressure than big teams like Visma-Lease a bike – or perhaps Ineos Grenadiers. And you definitely get the impression that the lack of pressure is a factor that is playing into what looks like a bit of a Pidcock renaissance, although of course we shouldn't forget that last year was not exactly a dud – he won Amstel Gold and the Olympic mountain bike race.
"There are some super strong teams here but we've shown how well we work together," Pidcock said. "We have a pretty strong team on the start line. We shouldn't be afraid lining up against these guys. There's no pressure… I think everything we do is kind of more than what our expectations are, so that's a nice place to be."
Opening weekend was a great place for riders to gauge their form against others they had yet to race against, he said, and said the result would be "in the race's hands, how it plays out, with us doing our part to get in the right places at the right time."
