Tom Pidcock is, astonishingly, back on the bike
Seven days ago, Tom Pidcock was in a Girona hospital getting his collarbone pieced back together. It had been shattered into five pieces after a collision with a car last Monday, a high-speed incident during training that snapped Pidcock’s bike in half.
Yesterday, Pidcock posted video footage on Instagram of him riding out of the saddle, doing push-ups and riding on the trainer.
“… Today this is possible! Human bodies are amazing and the steady hands … who fixed it back together! This gain train has left the station! ,” Pidcock wrote.
It is – putting it mildly – a stunning turnaround, but shows Pidcock’s motivation for the remainder of the season, which includes the cross-country mountain bike race at the Tokyo Olympics.
Pidcock is one of the most exciting young talents of the sport’s current cohort. In his first pro road season at Ineos Grenadiers, the 21-year-old has already made a mark. In the Spring Classics, he finished third at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, second by fractions of a millimetre at Amstel Gold, and won Brabantse Pijl.
Pidcock then switched over to the mountain bike, winning the Nové Město World Cup ahead of Mathieu van der Poel, and qualifying for Tokyo.
In the lead-up to the Olympics, Pidcock’s next outing looks like it will be the Les Gets round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on July 4. According to coach Kurt Bogaerts, “The Tour of Switzerland [which is underway now – ed.] was in his preparation so as not to make the run-up to Tokyo too boring. With normal training he will get ready for the Olympics just as well. It won’t be boring, it’s now just another road to Tokyo.”
Pidcock will line up at the Olympic XC MTB race on July 26 as one of the favourites for the win. If he takes it out, it will be yet another high-point in a year that has seen victories on the road, on the mountain bike, on the cyclocross bike, and against injury.
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