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Tom Pidcock and Jake Stewart on verge of writing new chapter for British cycling after brilliant 'opening weekend' debuts
The future of British cycling is in safe hands with Tom Pidcock, Jake Stewart and Ethan Hayter looking the most likely candidates to end the wait for its next win in the men's cobbled classics.
Speaking with Telegraph Sport before joining Ineos Grenadiers, Tom Pidcock said he believed the British outfit should win more one-day races than they have done since its inception as Team Sky in 2010 given their riders. Perhaps of wider interest to British cycling fans, though, was his warning that the next generation of talent was ready to break through.
“We've got me, Ethan Hayter, Fred Wright, Jake Stewart and Matt Walls [now racing in the WorldTour],” the 21-year-old Pidcock said. “We were all on the academy together. I think the new wave is coming through.
“I think we're now going to see what the next generation can do.”
On Saturday, he looked determined to make good on that as 'opening weekend', the traditional start to the classics campaign, got under way.
Following his first hit out the week before at the three-day Tour du Haut Var, Pidcock was at his typically aggressive best at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad where the Yorkshireman, making his WorldTour debut, appeared unfazed in the presence of seasoned professionals. After bridging over to the lead group in a move that oozed class, Pidcock crackled and fizzed as he put in repeated attacks. In the end, however, he ran out of gas having poked his nose into the wind once too often.
While Pidcock was rolling over the line in 55th place — just ahead of Yves Lampaert, Julian Alaphilippe and Alexander Kristoff — and team-mate Hayter, who was well positioned before crashing, another 21-year-old Briton was making a name for himself. Stewart, who rides for French team Groupama-FDJ, outsprinted seasoned campaigners Sep Vanmarcke, Heinrich Haussler and Philippe Gilbert to take second in one of the most prestigious semi-classics on the calendar. It felt like a moment.
Just over 24 hours later and Pidcock was back in the heart of the action at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, though on this occasion he rode more economically. Bouncing around in the main group of contenders or chasing group saving his energy. Gone was the excitable ball of energy that, perhaps, caused him to burn too many matches, too soon, at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. He's a quick learner is Pidcock. And the lessons learned on Saturday led to him taking third place at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.
Over the past decade only Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas and Ian Stannard have won semi-classics while racing under the Union flag, while further back Barry Hoban prevailed at Ghent-Wevelgem. Just one British male, Tom Simpson, however, has won the Tour of Flanders while Paris-Roubaix has eluded the likes of Roger Hammond, Hoban and Stannard.
So what next? Whether or not Pidcock, Stewart or Hayter progress from here and go on to write a new chapter in British cycling remains to be seen, but based on this weekend's racing the future looks very bright.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne: Pidcock completes superb weekend for young Britons after Pedersen takes win
Sunday February 28 — Kuurne to Kuurne, 197km
Tom Pidcock claimed a superb third place at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday after Ineos Grenadiers's first-year neo-pro was inched out by Anthony Turgis while Mads Pedersen won the Belgian semi-classic.
Just 24 hours after making his WorldTour debut at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, where compatriot Jake Stewart (Groupama-FDJ) took runners-up spot behind Davide Ballerini (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Pidcock, who in a recent interview with Telegraph Sport said his new team Ineos Grenadiers should be winning more one-day races, became the second 21-year-old Briton in two days to take a podium spot on 'opening weekend', the name given to the traditional start to the classics.
After a six-man breakaway had formed early in the race most had assumed the race would follow a familiar pattern, that is until Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) attacked off the front of the main bunch around 83 kilometres from the finish of the 197km race. Having accelerated on a short but gnarly section of road, only Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) was able to follow his wheel. Making his first appearance on the European roads this season, Van der Poel appeared in a typically aggressive mood and having formed an alliance with the Ecuadorian managed to bridge over to the race leaders.
However, despite their efforts the main bunch containing the big-hitters managed to rein them back in before a group of 30 riders went to the line in Kuurne where the race was decided following a bunch sprint finish. Pidcock was first to open up his sprint — perhaps a little too early — though he was jumped by Turgis while Pedersen, the former world champion, was shepherded perfectly towards the line by Jasper Stuyven enabling the Dane to pounce and add to his expanding palmarès.
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad: Ballerini strikes for Quick Step
Saturday February 27 — Ghent to Ninove, 200.5km
Davide Ballerini won the opening race of the classics campaign after Deceuninck-Quick Step's Italian won a bunch sprint finish at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ahead of Britain's Jake Stewart who rides for Groupama-FDJ.
It was the seventh victory of Ballerini's career and the third of the season following two stage wins at this month's Tour de la Provence, and one that owed a great deal to the hard work done by world champion and team-mate Julian Alaphilippe. Typically aggressive, Alaphilippe went on a solo attack 33 kilometres from the end of the 200km race that traverses through Flanders on tight narrow lines and short punchy cobbled climbs.
Once Alaphilippe was reined back in by a strong group that included Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën), Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-Up Nation), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) — who was hugely impressive on his WorldTour debut — Ballerini was able to sit in the wheels patiently behind his team-mates.
With the finishing line looming it became apparent the race would most likely be won by a fast man. However, it was not to be for Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates) who suffered a mechanical, while Briton Ethan Hayter who arrived in decent form and like team-mate Pidcock was making his debut at the race, crashed around 3km out from the line.
Marshalled by team-mates Alaphilippe, Kasper Asgreen, Florian Sénéchal and Yves Lampaert, who had earlier crashed before chasing back to the front of the pack, Ballerini was positioned perfectly before opening up his sprint and take arguably the biggest win of his career. It was a superb result, too, for Stewart, a first year neo-pro with Groupama-FDJ who took second place ahead of Sep Vanmarcke (Israel Start-up Nation).
Stewart later said he hopes to build on his second place. "Today was a bit of a surprise but I had good legs in [Etoile de] Bessèges and carried that into today. I was always prepared for today,” he told cyclingnews.com.
“I’m still trying to discover my potential,” the 21-year-old from Coventry added. “This is where my heart is and I love the Belgian races. This is where I want to excel, it’s where I want to see a good career.
“We weren’t sure where I was going to excel on the road but we’ve found my potential in these harder races. We’ll try and build on it.”
Later in the day Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) won the women's race after the Dutch world champion soloed to victory. Emma Cecile Norsgaard (Movistar), the Danish national champion, won a reduced bunch sprint to take second ahead of Van der Breggen’s team-mate Amy Pieters in third. Hannah Barnes (Canyon-Sram) was the highest placed Briton, finishing fifth just behind Lotte Kopecky (Liv Racing).
