Few riders would say they enjoyed the brutal process that goes into competing in a Grand Tour time trial, with the utterly exhausted faces of the likes of Wout van Aert (Visma-lease a Bike) and Daan Hoole (Lidl-Trek) showing just what it takes to rip round 13 kilometres on city streets at over 50kph.
But when Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) spoke post-stage, you’d have thought the Brit had just been on a Sunday stroll, judging by how cheery he was, despite admitting that it was just under 17 minutes of “suffering like a dog.”
Pidcock rolled across the line 39th on stage 2, 43 seconds slower than his compatriot and former teammate Josh Tarling (Ineos Grenadiers), dropping from fifth to 19th on GC. But he was more than content with a 42-second deficit overall from Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) heading into the final Albanian stage.
“I think that was pretty good to be honest, it was a pretty good time trial from me,” Pidcock told reporters at the finish. “43 seconds to Josh [Tarling] is not so bad from the speed he came past me in the recon.”
He told Cyclingnews pre-race press how the enjoyment of racing had returned since joining his new team following a drawn-out divorce away from Ineos at the end of 2024, and that rang true again on Saturday.
“I enjoyed that time trial, and I enjoyed the warm-up, which sometimes these days are super long and they are not the most fun,” said an honest Pidcock.
“You know, waiting around, warming up on a turbo trainer and then suffering like a dog by yourself, but no, I enjoyed that.”
Despite being one of the best bike handlers in the peloton, Pidcock also gave some good insight into the tricky road surface, which caused Luke Plapp (Jayco AlUla) to come down hard and made Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) produce an almighty save to keep his GC hopes alive.
“It’s really slippery, you know, if we were somewhere else in Europe, it would be like it was raining today,” said Pidcock.
“The tarmac is really shiny and polished, so a few people got caught out with that today and just tried taking the smooth lines through the corners.”
But having made it successfully round in a decent time, Pidcock stayed true to his pre-race sentiment about riding for GC at his Giro d’Italia debut, which he said didn’t interest him, but that he would be giving each and every day a good crack.
“Like I said before the race, I’m just going to race full gas every day, and just enjoy it,” he concluded.
Stage 3 looks like a great chance for Pidcock to show his attacking prowess, with a tough final climb to Qafa e Llogarasë (10.5km at 7.5%), topping out 40km from the finish in Vlorë, with a long downhill run back toward the coast looking like an ideal place for the Brit to light things up.
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