'Heart in your mouth' – Tom Pidcock compared to Lionel Messi after terrifying descent at Tour de France

Updated 14/07/2022 at 18:41 GMT

Tom Pidcock may have leaked almost 10 minutes on a dramatic Stage 11 to drop out of the top 10 in the general classification at the Tour de France, but the Brit was immediately back on the attack as he showed off his downhill prowess. Dan Lloyd is convinced this talent could help him land a Grand Tour in the future, if he continues his impressive development.

‘Heart in your mouth’ – Pidcock flies past rivals at terrifying speeds on descent

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) dropped a descending masterclass on the Col du Galibier as he ripped clear on Stage 12 at the Tour de France – an attack that teed up a stunning victory on Alpe d’Huez.

The Brit, who began the day 11th in the general classification at 11’12”, was unleashed with 128km remaining of the queen stage and set about closing the gap to the day’s breakaway.

Pidcock had nearly two minutes to close but quickly hoovered up the other chasers, including four-time champion Chris Froome (Israel–Premier Tech), with some terrific (and terrifying) cornering. The two Brits formed an alliance and soon made it to the front of the race.

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But Pidcock was not done. After Neilson Powless (EF Education–EasyPost) raced clear from the break, the 22-year-old set off again on the downhill. He soon closed the gap as he showed off bike handling skills at breakneck speed, before flying past the American and enjoying the open roads as those behind failed to keep pace.

Only Powless was within touching distance as the descent flattened out, with both riders easing up and allowing the group to reform ahead of two more tough climbs.

Rob Hatch compared Pidcock’s descending instincts to those of legendary footballer Lionel Messi.

“I’m going to compare this, when I talk about seeing things, to a footballer like Messi, who sees a pass that exists where a normal midfielder or attacker might not,” said Hatch.

“The way I talk about seeing corners is that Pidcock, he has that [ability] somewhere, inside him. He can spot which way to go round, he’s supremely confident, technically brilliantly, he’s just on a different level.”

‘On a different level!’ – Stunning Pidcock descent earns plaudits

Adam Blythe explained just how rare Pidcock’s gift for descending is.

“He doesn’t know the exit. That’s the tough thing with going downhill, that they don’t know where the exit of a corner is,” he said.

“They can see as far as they can see around the corner. It’s just knowing when to turn in. If you watch Tom, he’s turning in late, he’s throwing his bike in late, kissing that apex of the corner perfectly.

“But it’s also about setting up the next corner. You can go into one corner super quick, but that might not lend its hand to the next corner so you lose speed.

“So for Tom, it’s setting himself up out of it and getting straight into the next corner.”

Pidcock attacked later in the stage to whittle the breakaway down to five, with Froome still in the mix, before setting off decisively with 10.5km to go on Alpe d’Huez.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarche–Wanty–Gobert Materiaux) set off in pursuit with Froome close behind, but neither could live with the 22-year-old from Leeds who delivered a sensational win on his Tour debut.

Pidcock is a rider of many talents. He is world cyclo-cross champion, Olympic mountain bike champion and is starting to tear it up for Ineos on the road.

Dan Lloyd claimed Pidcock could be a frightening prospect should he throw everything at a Grand Tour tilt in the future.

“Based on how he’s ridden in this Tour de France and the age that he is. I know he’s not that much younger than Tadej Pogacar, but he’s still developing and he’s not specialised in one discipline,” said Lloyd.

“Once he does turn his eye to concentrating on road racing, if he does develop into someone who’s right up there on Grand Tours… can you imagine Tom Pidcock being right up there, a minute off the race lead, there’s a stage that finishes down a descent.

“I mean that could be quite spectacular to watch.”