Tom Pidcock hails one of his best ever climbing performances at Tirreno-Adriatico

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) produced what he called 'one of my best climbing performances that I’ve ever done’ on stage 6 of Tirreno-Adriatico to haul himself into the top ten on GC with just one stage remaining.

The British rider finished fifth on the brutally tough stage to Monte Petrano, 42 seconds down on stage winner and race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), but high enough to rise five places in the overall standings to ninth.

The 24-year-old didn’t respond when Vingegaard attacked to win his second consecutive stage but remained with his teammate Thymen Arensman through the rain and cold to help protect the Dutchman’s own GC aspirations.

In the end, Arensman conceded too much time to keep his podium chances alive and dropped from sixth to eighth ahead of the final stage to San Benedetto del Tronto.

Pidcock came into Tirreno-Adriatico looking to build on his early season form and test himself against WorldTour stage racing opposition. He put in a decent time trial on stage 1 but was unable to follow the best riders on stage 5. Saturday’s stage, however, saw a turnaround in fortunes and performance with the all-rounder keeping alive his personal aims as well as supporting Arensman until the final dash for the line.

“I’ve mixed emotions because yesterday wasn’t a great day but then today was actually really good,” Pidcock said on Saturday evening from the Ineos Grenadiers hotel in Italy.

“There were two things that I wanted to do today, which was to help Thymen get third on GC but also to keep testing my own boundaries, and today I was much better. I was actually feeling really good. It was one of my best climbing performances that I’ve ever done. So I can be happy about that. Also, I can be positive about everything. I haven’t won a race yet this year but I’m definitely in good shape. Without the training from long efforts, I’ve done pretty decent performances the last few days,” he added.

Vingegaard and his Visma-Lease a Bike team controlled the race for a second day running, capping the early break at just a few minutes, and then helping Vinegaard attack the field.

The Danish rider faced stiffer opposition on stage 6 than he did 24 hours earlier, with Jai Hindley rallying and Juan Ayuso also pushing hard but neither rider had an answer when Vingegaard attacked on the final climb. Pidcock rode his own race on the slopes of the final ascent but suggested he could have followed the best climbers.

“It was just getting yesterday in the legs and then today I could already see improvements. Today was a lot easier than yesterday, because of the flat sections. They [Visma] don’t care who is in the break. They just ride their thing, they tire everyone out, and make it a super hard day. Then they get ready for Jonas to attack at high fatigue and that’s their strategy. That’s how a lot of races are going to play out now,” he said.

“Today I could have actually been in the front group. I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling but I was better than I thought I’d be, and at the same time I was thinking about Thymen, so it was difficult.”

Pidcock will head to Milan-San Remo next week before building up towards the Ardennes Classics, Tour de France and Olympic Games in Paris later this year.