Pidcock Leads Roubaix Charge

PARIS-ROUBAIX, 259.7KM

Tom Pidcock impressed on his Paris-Roubaix debut, finishing in a hard-fought 17th place in his favourite race.

The Brit began the week with a crash prior to the start of Itzulia Basque Country, but was able to recover well in time to start the Hell of the North.

Pidcock was well positioned in the lead group prior to the famous Arenberg sector, and pushed on at the front of the race with 80km to go.

The lead group began to stretch in the closing stages, with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) making his bid for victory with 60km to go. The Dutchman would finish solo in the Roubaix Velodrome, with a winning margin of three minutes. As the groups split up behind, Pidcock came home 6:20 back ahead of a chasing group.

The team combined well in the early going, monitoring moves with Elia Viviani, Ben Swift, Connor Swift and youngest rider in the race AJ August. Viviani would go down in the day’s big crash, prior to the cobbles. The Italian was taken to hospital for checks, with initial scans revealing no fractures.

Josh Tarling also went down briefly in the crash. The young Brit punctured shortly after, with 144km to go, and was unable to complete the race due to a disqualification.