Tom Pidcock has no intention of taking his eye off the ball after successful Amstel Gold Race and is able to do battle with each Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, says his Ineos Grenadiers coach.
Now the first-ever British rider to triumph within the males’s Amstel Gold Race, Pidcock has already taken second in Liège-Bastogne-Liege final 12 months – additionally his nation’s best-ever end in biking’s oldest Basic – and can be again within the fray each tomorrow at La Flèche Wallonne and once more subsequent Sunday.
Pidcock’s finest putting in La Flèche Wallonne dates from 2021, when he took sixth after ending second in Amstel Gold Race and successful Brabantse Pijl. He additionally tackled the Mur de Huy in 2023, however was solely in a position to end 18th.
Nevertheless as coach Kurt Bogaerts advised Het Laatste Nieuws after Pidcock received Amstel, within the first a part of the 2023 Ardennes Classics, following a fall and concussion in Tirreno-Adriatico, the Briton was nonetheless enjoying catch-up. That stated, these setbacks didn’t cease Pidcock from ending third in Amstel Gold final 12 months, in addition to subsequently taking second in Liège.
“Now he has a giant win underneath his belt. That does make it simpler,” Bogaerts argued. “Over the previous 4 years [each season] he has at all times received a significant race, he has proven that he can compete with the greats.”
Bogaerts is satisfied, in any case, that Pidcock could have the possibility to battle for victory, no matter Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar’s presence on Sunday.
“If you happen to had believed every thing that was written about Mathieu, he would have received the Amstel even earlier than he had raced it,” Bogaerts identified. “That did not occur.”
“ They’re simply individuals too. On Wednesday on the Mur de Huy, it is going to be a query of excellent positioning. In Liège Tom will attempt to beat Pogačar and Van der Poel, as he has executed prior to now.”
Taking Amstel Gold was a pleasant victory, Bogaerts advised Het Laatste Nieuws, “But it surely doesn’t finish right here. We hold calm and keep it up.”
