Tom Pidcock posts staggering 5k run time during off-bike training

Tom Pidcock has revealed he ran five kilometres in an astonishing time of 13-25 during off-bike training at the weekend. The rapid time is only around 50 seconds off the men's world record time of 12-35.36 set on the track at a Diamond League by Joshua Cheptegei, and five seconds off Marc Scott's British road record.

Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) set the time whilst out on an off-bike training session around the Gipton area of north east Leeds in West Yorkshire, where he ran 9.35km in 41 minutes.

Pidcock was using a Garmin Forerunner 935 and his Strava data shows that his 5k PB is 13-26, but some running and triathlon sites are sceptical of the amazing time, questioning if it is due to GPS error, but Pidcock says he'll try to run it again to validate the time. The activity has also been flagged and was uploaded with an incorrect date of December 18, 2020. His fastest split during the 5km effort was an incredible 2-40/km, a speed of 22kmh.

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In an Instagram post, Pidcock said: "This morning I went out to try and break the 15 minute 5k, I did a 13-25. Apparently this is very quick.

"Think I'm going to try again in a few days to try and validate this. Maybe running is the sport for me."

Former runner, now pro rider, Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) reacted to Pidcock's time on Twitter having seen the GPS data and a video showing the Yorkshireman on his run.

In a tweet, Woods said: "I've been getting a number of messages asking if Tom Pidcock's 13:25 5km was legit. I don't mean to knock the guy, as he is an incredible athlete, but based off that vid and his GPS data, I'd bet a lot of money he was running far closer to 15 min pace (still very respectable time)."

He went on to say in a follow-up tweet: "GPS data, when running close to buildings, can be off. Also, unless that vid was of his warm-up, there is no way he is carrying enough speed to run 13:25. If you want a reference, just watch Jakob Ingenbrigtsen running 13:29 to break the Euro 5km road record"

Pidcock has recently finished his cyclocross season and his time with Trinity Racing development team and has now officially joined Ineos Grenadiers, but he is spending time back home after spending Christmas on his own in Belgium so he could race.

Pidcock put on a good showing in his cyclocross season, battling with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) throughout, only bettering them on a couple of occasions, and finishing fourth at the World Championships.

He is now due to start his WorldTour road cycling career with Ineos Grenadiers, and will debut for the team at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var where he is set to support Geraint Thomas, Tao Geoghegan-Hart, Rohan Dennis, and Pavel Sivakov alongside Dylan van Baarle.

The 21-year-old will then go to the cobbled Classics in Belgium at the 'Opening Weekend' of Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne before debuting at Strade Bianche and eventually riding the Vuelta a España in August.