'I've been struggling... so it feels nicer than normal to win' – Tom Pidcock sprints to victory on Tour of the Alps stage 3, less than a month after ravine crash
Pinarello Q36.5 rider takes third win of the season in Italy
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Tom Pidcock sprinted to victory on stage three of the Tour of the Alps in Arco on Wednesday, less than a month after crashing into a ravine.
The Pinarello Q36.5 rider out-powered Tommaso Dati (Team UKYO), the rider who beat him to the line on stage one, to take his third win of the season. Not normally known for his sprint, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) finished third.
Pidcock's Pinarello Q36.5 team had hunted down the early two-man break of Sam Oomen (Lidl-Trek) and Darren Rafferty (EF Education-EasyPost), and delivered Pidcock to victory.
Article continues belowGiulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) finished in the front group at the same time as Pidcock, maintaining his small lead in the general classification over Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), whose team-mate Egan Bernal scooped bonus seconds to move into third on GC.
"I think this win feels really nice," said Pidcock afterwards. "I mean, I'm struggling… well, I've been struggling. The first climb I was dropped and just made it over the top. So yeah, it feels even nicer than normal to win. The guys committed 100% to me, which is super nice, considering it wasn't evident that I would be there to finish it off."
He added: "The last time I was racing, I was in amazing shape. And, you know, today would have been relatively comfortable, to be honest, and now I was suffering, at the back. It's difficult to get your head around it and find enjoyment in that because it's pretty uncomfortable. But that's why it feels so good to finish off.
"I went too early for that last corner," he said. "I thought it was sooner when the barriers started and yeah it was quite far, so I was a bit worried. But I saw Egan [Bernal] was the first guy on my wheel, so I thought… Egan is not slow, but I can beat Egan in a sprint and I just went full to the line."
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Pidcock's coach Kurt Bogaerts was at pains to point out that the win does not mean Pidcock is back on top form. It was his sprinting ability that carried him through, he said, and his near-seven-minute loss yesterday was a better indicator of his overall shape.
"It's a victory that he was able to be on the [Tour of the Alps] start line after his crash," Bogaerts said. "It's basically a hard training week to try to pick up some condition, and not make the gap between Catalunya [where he crashed] and the Tour too big with no racing. It was a complex injury, and we worked really hard with the team to help him recover and be able to go on the bike.
"I think Tom never in his life, was not able to do 11 days of anything, not even running, even in the off-season," Bogaerts said. "But that needed to be respected for the healing."
He added: "We were able to train a couple of days, and now it's just suffering in the race to try to get better. If it's really nice a day like today, if you can ask for the commitment of the guys, and then you can win the stage."
Despite moving up 18 places, Pidcock remains a long way down on GC in 42nd place, 6:46 down.
Tomorrow's stage four sees the riders undertake a big mountains stage over 168km from Arco to Trento, with 4,111 climbing metres. It is sure to prove a tough day out for Pidcock, but it would be no surprise to see him move further up the GC.
Results
Tour of the Alps 2026, stage 2: Latsch > Arco, 174,5km
1. Tom Pidcock (Gbr) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling, 174.5km in 4:23:24
2. Tommaso Dati (Ita) Team Ukyo
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
4. Luca Paletti (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7 Saber
5. Alexandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe
6. Sean Quinn (USA) EF Education-EasyPost
7. Chris Hamilton (Aus) Picnic PostNL
8. Jacob Omrzel (Slo) Bahrain Victorious
9. Florian Storck (Ger) Tudor Pro Cycling
10. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Jayco-AlUla, all at same time
General Classification after stage 3
1. Giulio Pellizzari (Ita) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, in 11:13:06
2. Thymen Arensman (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, +4s
3. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, +6s
4. Mattia Gaffuri (Ita) Picnic PostNL, at same time
5. Alexandr Vlasov (Rus) Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe, +10s
6. Mathys Rondel (Fra) Tudor Pro Cycling, +19s
7. Jacob Omrzel (Slov) Bahrain Victorious, +29s
8. Chris Harper (Aus) Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling
9. Alex Tolio (Ita) Bardiani CSF 7 Saber
10. Michael Storer (Aus) Tudor Pro Cycling, all at same time
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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