Tom Pidcock will begin as Nice Britain’s greatest hope for a medal within the males’s highway race on the UCI Highway World Championships on September 26 however, in accordance with nationwide coach Matt Brammeier, the crew shall be greater than only a one-man present, with lingering questions over Pidcock’s kind this late into the season.
In what has been a rollercoaster and vastly profitable debut highway marketing campaign, Pidcock made his Grand Tour debut on the current Vuelta a España and used the occasion to achieve useful miles and kind however he is not going to race earlier than the Worlds in Belgium.
Britain’s squad was confirmed on Monday, and Brammeier believes {that a} single chief strategy might not be the crew’s greatest technique.
“We’ve bought a very good group. There have been a couple of selections we needed to wait on however we’re wanting ahead to getting caught in,” Brammeier advised Cyclingnews.
“Tom isn’t on prime of his recreation in the intervening time and we noticed on the Vuelta that he had a couple of respectable days however to go in and say he can win with the shape and situation he has… you by no means know with him however we’ve bought a very good group.”
Together with the mountain bike Olympic champion, the crew head to Belgium with former world champion Mark Cavendish and the in-form Ethan Hayter, who, like Pidcock, has loved a breakout season within the WorldTour.
Jake Stewart has already impressed this 12 months and Brammeier is leaning on a collective strategy as a way to safeguard as many potential candidates for the latter phases of the lads’s highway race.
“Ethan is within the type of his life. Jake Stewart and Fred Wright are going nicely – everybody on that listing is admittedly. Luke [Rowe] and Ben [Swift] have been coaching nicely, Mark is coming into some good kind, so it’s a very good group for that course. We’ll play our playing cards and see the way it unfolds,” Brammeier mentioned.
“I don’t assume anybody goes to be a protected rider. Clearly, we’ll have the blokes we lean on in the beginning of the race to cowl early strikes however with Cav, I don’t assume he’s going to go to the end. I feel that it’s unrealistic to say that he’ll go to the end of a Worlds like this.
“It’s not going to be a dash however with regards to a struggle for place he’s among the finest on the planet. He’s good at preventing and placing the blokes in the appropriate place on the proper time. He’s good at steering the blokes in entrance of him in order that’s why he’s within the crew. He additionally brings lots off the bike, with all his expertise. He’s been there and performed it and we’ve bought such a younger group. Cavendish provides to the older guard.”
In response to the highway coach, Pidcock has been in each day contact on the subject of the Worlds, and whereas he readily acknowledges that the multi-disciplined rider is the crew’s standout candidate on paper, the results from a protracted season are additionally a significant component.
“After all he’s our greatest man and greatest rider on outcomes,” Brammeier mentioned.
“He received De Brabantse Pijl on nearly an an identical course and he’s our lead rider however we’re not going to go in with a technique to only assist him by sacrificing everybody else’s possibilities and alternatives. It may very well be an actual lottery so we’ll attempt to cowl all of the strikes with what we’ve bought.
“Tom had fairly a giant push as much as the Olympics and that took fairly a bit out of him, emotionally and bodily. Going into the Vuelta was an unknown and he’s not worn out. He’s calling and messaging me day by day however we simply assume that he’s not in the appropriate form to go and nail his hat to the wall and say he needs a win.”
