'It was just a stupid accident' – Tom Pidcock insists ravine crash won't slow him down on the descents as he returns to racing

Tom Pidcock has said that his plunge into a ravine at the Volta a Catalunya last month has not affected his famous descending prowess.

"It was just a combination of a few factors, and then it all went wrong," the Pinarello Q36.5 rider told Cycling Weekly ahead of the first stage of this week's Tour of the Alps. "So if one thing hadn't have happened, then I wouldn't have crashed. So it was an unfortunate event, it wasn't so much taking risks, or making a mistake or going beyond my limits. It was just a stupid accident."

The 26-year-old was a last-minute addition to his team's roster for the five-day stage race, which spans Austria and Italy – a decision taken after it became apparent that the ligament damage to his knee and a stress fracture to his tibia had healed sufficiently for him to ride.

"I basically didn't train for two weeks, so it wasn't ideal," he said on Monday when asked about the impact of the crash on what had been some excellent early-season form. "I think I was in really good shape, but sometimes that's just how it is."

Pidcock won Milan-Torino, as well as placing a close second behind Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) at Milan-San Remo, and seventh in Strade Bianche.

He credited a month spent in Chile at altitude as playing a part in that form, but adds: "We've worked hard, and I've built on last year, I've kept improving and improving. I think it's normal at my age that I should be improving every year."

Despite those two weeks off the bike he says cycling has actually been "relatively easy" on his injuries, meaning he could progress fast.

With the Ardennes races, which started on Sunday the with Amstel Gold Race, originally forming the major goal of Pidcock's season, he still plans to race Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, two days after the Tour of the Alps finishes.

For this week, he says: "I think anything is a bonus, any result I get or whatever is a bonus. I'm feeling really quite good in training, but it rarely relates to the racing."

Among Pidcock's rivals at the Tour of the Alps will be defending champion Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Egan Bernal and Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers) and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe).