Tom Pidcock says Gianni Mader's death 'hit home quite hard for me' as he prepares for Tour de France

ByEurosport

Published 28/06/2023 at 15:17 GMT

Tom Pidcock is hoping to record at least a few stage wins at this year's Tour de France. However, ahead of the Tour which gets underway on Saturday, Pidcock admits that the death of Gianni Mader had affected him. The Bahrain Victorious rider died following a crash on Stage 5 of the Tour of Switzerland on the descent to La Punt following 197km of racing. Mader fell into a ravine.

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Tom Pidcock says the death of Swiss rider Gino Mader "hit home" as he prepares for this year's Tour de France.

Ineos Grenadiers rider Pidcock became the youngest-ever winner on the Alpe d’Huez with a sensational solo win on Stage 12 of the 2022 Tour de France.

But after hearing the news that Mader fell into a ravine during a high-speed descent at the Tour of Switzerland earlier this month, he says the Swiss rider's passing has impacted him.

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“Obviously it was a very emotional day for everyone in cycling, especially those who were in [the Tour de] Suisse, and his team-mates and his family,” Pidcock told The Telegraph as he prepares for the opening stage of the Tour de France in Bilbao on Saturday.

“And I think one of those feelings – you know, besides all the other ones – was that descending is something that I love, and someone who I raced with died descending. It hit home quite hard for me in that way.”

There have been calls after Mader's death for high-speed descents to be banned from finishes in the final kilometres of races.

However, Pidcock - a specialist at descents - believes there will always be "risks" in professional cycling and that it is up to the rider to make the safest decisions possible.

He added: “I guess unless we all want to race round the motor racing circuits, then we have to accept that we will be racing down descents.

“There was a tailwind, and it was a corner that wasn’t so sharp, but then it kind of closed in a little bit. It’s just one of those…

"I think risks are involved in cycling, and sometimes, you know, it doesn’t happen often, but it can go wrong. I guess we do what we can to mitigate those risks but they’ll never be gone."

Pidcock does not think it is realistic for him to win the Tour this year as he looks to "build on last year's race", but he does believe he has a chance of grabbing the yellow jersey on the opening stage which features 3,300 metres of climbing.

"It suits my characteristics,” he said.

“But going into the first stage of a Grand Tour, there’s already a lot going on, anything can happen. Your legs can be anywhere.”

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