Tom Pidcock delivered a huge performance, claiming his first win with the Q36.5 team. With one more climbing stage ahead, he’s now the clear favourite to secure his first-ever GC victory in a professional race.
It was the first race and a key opportunity for Tom Pidcock to secure a victory with his new Q36.5 team. With little major competition, he was the clear favourite to win on the irregular and highly challenging Bir Jayvdah Mountain Wirkah, which featured an extended section with gradients exceeding 16%.
Due to poor road conditions, the organisers and commissaires decided to neutralise the downhill of the second passage and remove one lap, shortening the stage from 157.7 km to 130.6 km for safety reasons. This decision was made not far from the final hill, allowing the peloton to regain strength, recover significantly, and produce huge watts on the climb. By the time they reached the final hill, 3:11 hours had passed, with riders expending 2066 kilojoules at an average of 10.74 kJ/kg/h.
UAE Team Emirates had brought Rafał Majka for the GC, but after crashing on stage 1 and losing significant time, they shifted their support to 18-year-old Spaniard Adrià Pericas, who was making his debut in the pro peloton. Pericas was not strong enough to launch an attack after Majka’s pacing was done but managed to finish 20th. In the final kilometre, with no team controlling the pace, the tempo remained high. With 500 metres to go, Pidcock attacked and was never seen again, flying to his first win and delivering one of his best pure W/kg performances immediately after leaving INEOS.
On the final hill, Pidcock produced 7.69 ᵉW/kg for 7:27 minutes, a performance very similar to Javier Romo’s effort on Willunga Hill at the Tour Down Under. However, Romo’s effort came after a harder race leading up to the climb, whereas Pidcock had the chance to recover in the peloton beforehand. Austrian Rainer Kepplinger, who delivered a standout performance on Vall d’Ebo during Bahrain Victorious’ testing day a year ago, finished second. In his first race with Jayco AlUla, XCO Mountain Bike World Champion Alan Hatherly secured third place with 7.56 ᵉW/kg. His teammate Eddie Dunbar lost 11 seconds to the 28-year-old South African.
With one more climbing stage ahead, Tom Pidcock is the clear favourite to secure his first-ever GC win in a UCI race of .1 category or higher. Jayco AlUla could try to play the numbers with Hatherly and Dunbar on the plateau of Skyviews, but it will be a difficult task, as Pidcock will likely receive help chasing from other GC riders like Kepplinger.
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