Tom Pidcock claims he is 'not good enough' to win Tour de France in 2023, targets stage wins

Published 01/07/2023 at 12:28 GMT

Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are the huge favourites to top the general classification at the Tour de France – and it seems even Tom Pidcock agrees. Ineos star Pidcock is still hoping to push in GC but his primary objective is adding to his stage win from 2022, when he won from the breakaway on Alpe d'Huez after a fearless display of descending that went viral.

Pidcock admits he is 'not good enough' to win GC

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) wrote off his own hopes of winning the yellow jersey at the 2023 Tour de France before the first pedal stroke, telling Eurosport he was “not good enough” to top the general classification.

The multi-talented Brit, who won atop Alpe d'Huez last year after a descending masterclass, said he would target stage victories again and "see what happens on GC".

Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) are the runaway favourites for this year’s race, having won the last three editions between them.

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"Of course I want to try and win," said Pidcock after being asked whether he was targeting GC or stages.

"I’m not good enough to win the GC this year, I can tell you that. But I want to try and win some stages and then see what happens on GC.

"Maybe at one point we’ll switch tactics and go solely for stages."

Pidcock is part of a makeshift Ineos line-up featuring the returning Egan Bernal and Carlos Rodriguez, with Eurosport expert Adam Blythe predicting the team could have their "worst Tour de France in terms of general classification hopes."

Ineos, previously Team Sky, once dominated the peloton at the Tour de France, winning the yellow jersey for five straight years from 2015 to 2019 through Chris Froome and Bernal.

"For Ineos this could be a very different scenario for them - stage hunting, not a GC leader, not a chance of the yellow jersey in my eyes," said Blythe.

"They’ve always had a leader, they’ve always had ambitions to get the yellow jersey, but this year I would say the ambition is between top five and top 10, after that I am not too sure.

"You have Tom Pidcock, who might try and stay up there on GC just for the learning process to see what it’s like. But he is a proper bike racer and will want to go stage hunting and getting the glory which I hope he does, I hope he doesn’t get too bogged down with the GC.

"Bernal, I don’t think he will do anything in the GC, I don’t think he’s at that level yet. The other guys in the team… I think top 10 would be great."