Tom Pidcock lines up against Vingegaard and Hindley as he aims for GC result at Tirreno-Adriatico

Tom Pidcock’s (Ineos Grenadiers) march towards the Tour de France continues this week with an assault on Tirreno-Adriatico. The event is Pidcock’s first WorldTour stage race of the season and follows on from his fourth-placed finish in Strade Bianche last weekend.

Pidcock is centring his season around the Ardennes Classics, Olympic Games, and the Tour de France, with his coach previously telling GCN that a top-five finish is achievable in the latter.

Although Pidcock hasn’t hit his best form just yet the 24-year-old has been solid throughout the start of the season, picking up a top-ten in the Volta ao Algarve before starting his Classics campaign with two further top tens.

Tirreno-Adriatico will be a far sterner test of Pidcock’s stage racing credentials with two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard lining up alongside a stacked Visma-Lease a Bike team. Few are expecting Pidcock to push Vingegaard all the way, especially given the Danish rider’s incredible start to the season at O Gran Camiño, where he won every stage bar one, and claimed the overall.

However, Pidcock will be looking to compete for a result in the general classification, and possibly take a stage along the way as he builds up for Milan-San Remo later in the month.

“I’m looking for a good result on GC and also to come out of the race in a good place with Milan-San Remo in mind,” he said ahead of Tirreno-Adriatico.

“This is one of the four stage races I’ll race this year ahead of the Tour, so while it’s not the most important race for me this year, I still want to put in a consistent week. But don’t forget what I actually love to do, and that’s winning, so a stage victory would be nice.”

Read more: Tom Pidcock: There were dead bodies everywhere when Tadej Pogačar attacked at Strade Bianche

Tirreno-Adriatico kicks off with a 10km individual time trial in Lido di Camaiore, and it represents Pidcock’s first appointment as a GC rider in the race.

“This season I’ve been putting in more work on my TT bike to massively improve on that, that’s been one of the changes training-wise for me this season,” he said.

For all the important information about the 2024 Tirreno-Adriatico, be sure to check out our dedicated race hub.