Tom Pidcock takes La Planche des Belles Filles victory at the Tour Alsace

The Brit will rise up the GC after his summit finish win

Tom Pidcock (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
By Jonny Long
published

Tom Pidcock took a summit finish victory on La Planche des Belles Filles and rose to the top of the overall classification at the Tour Alsace.

The Wiggins Le Col rider sat in 12th place in the overall classification of the UCI 2.2 race, currently the highest placed Brit, and beat Alexander Evans (SEG Racing Academy) by three seconds, with Kevin Inkelaar (Groupama FDJ development squad) in third, to take his first win after three stages. Another Brit, Adam Hartley (SEG Racing Academy), finished tenth.

>>> Mark Cavendish and Alice Barnes headline British squads for European Championships

The five-day race is held in the Alsace region of France, with previous winners including Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in 2016, Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) in 2010 and Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) in 2009.

In the opening prologue, where teams were split into two groups of three, Pidcock's trio placed fourth, seven seconds down on the winning Corendon-Circus outfit, which contained David van der Poel, the brother of Amstel Gold Race winner Mathieu.

In the stage one bunch sprint, the 20-year-old placed fourth, with compatriot Jake Stewart coming fourth for his Groupama-FDJ development team.

Pidcock leading Inkelaar by 36 seconds on GC with two stages remaining. Stage three provides another summit finish at the Col du Calvaire and stage four a lumpy parcours to conclude the race.

In June, Pidcock became the first British winner of Paris-Roubaix U23, attacking from 20km out and solo-ing to victory, following up his win in the junior race in 2017.

At the British national time trial championships, Pidcock placed seventh as Alex Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) rode to a record-breaking sixth title. As a junior, one of Pidcock's biggest wins came when he claimed the junior World TT Championships.

Before switching to focusing on the road for the remainder of the season, the young Brit claimed his first u23 rainbow jersey at the cyclocross world championships in February earlier this year.

Pidock signed for Wiggins Le Col ahead of the 2018 season, riding the Tour de Yorkshire, Tour of Britain and Tour Alsace, where he placed 76th in the overall classification.

Results

Tour Alsace 2019, stage 2: Vesoul to La Planche des Belles Filles (141.1km)

1. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Wiggins Le Col, in 3-31-02

2. Alexander Evans (Aus) SEG Racing Academy, at three seconds

3. Kevin Inkelaar (Ned) Groupama-FDJ development team, at 15s

General classification after stage two

1. Tom Pidcock (GBr) Wiggins Le Col, in 6-55-19

2. Kevin Inkelaar (Ned) Groupama-FDJ development team, at 36 seconds

3. Damian Lüscher (Sui) Swiss Cycling Team, at 40s

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Jonny Long

Hi. I'm Cycling Weekly's Weekend Editor. I like writing offbeat features and eating too much bread when working out on the road at bike races.


Before joining Cycling Weekly I worked at The Tab and I've also written for Vice, Time Out, and worked freelance for The Telegraph (I know, but I needed the money at the time so let me live).


I also worked for ITV Cycling between 2011-2018 on their Tour de France and Vuelta a España coverage. Sometimes I'd be helping the producers make the programme and other times I'd be getting the lunches. Just in case you were wondering - Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen had the same ham sandwich every day, it was great.

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