Tom Pidcock (Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling) has claimed a police motorbike riding in the wrong direction on the race course hit two of his teammates at the Tre Valli Varesine on Tuesday, leaving one unable to finish the race.
“UAE came to help, but then a police motorbike was going the wrong way down the course. And crashed into two of our guys,” he told YouTube channel Cycling Pro Net in his post-race interview.
The rider from Leeds placed the incident at around six or seven laps from the finish in the one-day Italian Classic used as a key build-up race for the fifth and final Monument of the year, Il Lombardia.
Spanish national champion Marcel Camprubí and Thomas Gloag were the two riders involved, both racing alongside Pidcock. Pidcock said Camprubí was able to carry on, while Gloag’s race ended following the collision. Camprubí finished last on the day alongside Vuelta stage winner Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility).
“Luckily, Marcel was okay. He could continue,” Pidcock said. “Tom was also okay in the end, but he stopped the race. He has some stitches in his knee, but things like this shouldn't happen.”
Pidcock said that his team had initially been left to control the peloton and the gap to the breakaway before UAE Team Emirates-XRG eventually joined them on the front.
Pidcock’s first reaction was to want to stop racing himself. In explaining that response, he began by saying he wanted to “stop the race” before clarifying that he meant his own participation.
“First of all, I wanted to stop the race, but stopped racing myself,” he said. “I was mad, you know, my guys all riding in front of me for me and two of them on the floor.”
Pidcock said he and the other riders subsequently continued and got back into the race. Camprubí was able to continue too, in his account, while Gloag stopped with the knee injury Pidcock described.
Pidcock went on to finish second in a three-rider sprint won by Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché), with Matteo Jorgenson (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) third. The podium followed a race in which Pidcock said he had briefly stopped racing after the collision involving his teammates.
Widar’s speed will be known to people involved in the U23 circles but Pidcock was not expecting the young Belgian to pack such a punch . Widar hung back off the wheels before launching early. Pidcock and Jorgenson didn’t get close to stopping the 20-year-old from getting his first professional victory. But Pidcock has noted the acceleration of Widar for future battles.
“He was very quick. I don't know how much of a jump he got on us but when he went I went immediately but he already had a gap and he was not far to the finish then,” Pidcock said. “So yeah, very impressive sprint by him.”
