Tom Pidcock won his second race in four days for Q36.5 on Friday, winning stage four of the AlUla Tour to the Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, and tightening his grip on the general classification in the process.
The 25-year-old, who joined from Ineos Grenadiers in the off-season, won stage two on Wednesday to claim the lead of the race, and won again to now lead by 29 seconds.
There is just one stage left, and Pidcock will hope to win his first professional overall title. Friday's triumph was his seventh pro victory. While it is just the AlUla Tour, it is a sign that his form is good with his new team - in four race days in new colours, he has two wins.
He attacked with 9km to go on the final climb of the day to go solo, and despite the best efforts of a chasing group including Alan Hatherly (Jayco AlUla) and Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain-Victorious), the man in the green jersey could not be caught. Pidcock beat Hatherly and Kepplinger by 12 seconds, to extend his control of the race.
With one potentially difficult stage on Saturday, it won't be simple, but Pidcock should have enough to secure the whole race. He spoke of possible winds on Saturday, but according to forecasts this seems unlikely.
"On a climb that steep I went to the bottom to set my own pace," he said. "Offence is the best form of defense, sometimes. When I came to this race, they said it’s normally a tailwind up here, but it was a headwind. It was a long eight kilometers.
"There were four guys behind me, and I don’t know how well they were working but I was on my own. I'm a guy who likes to get out the saddle, and you can't get out of the saddle at 40kph. It was a long way, but I am happy. I extended my lead, and this gives us a buffer going into tomorrow. I did a lot of training that helps me do these efforts. This week I set a new 5–10-minute power record so I am definitely in good shape."
"I'm super happy. I looked at tomorrow’s stage and I think it will be windy so it will be a stressful day to hold this jersey," he continued. "It’s definitely not over but I think I couldn’t have done much more up till now."
