'Probably a mistake' - Pidcock reflects on breakaway move after losing GC ground at Tour de France

The Pinarello-Q36.5 rider had surged up the GC from tenth to fourth, just nine seconds off the podium and Remco Evenepoel in third (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), after gaining more than seven minutes from the breakaway on Stage 13.

After such a huge effort, Pidcock had already anticipated the challenge ahead, saying, "I'm going to feel my legs tomorrow, that's for sure."

However, the early signs on Saturday’s stage indicated that the legs weren’t feeling fatigued as Pidcock floated his way into a 37-man move which formed on the Category 1 Grand Ballon.

In the breakaway for the second day running, Pidcock found himself alongside the Visma | Lease a Bike trio of Bruno Armirail, Victor Campenaerts, and Matteo Jorgenson. As a result, UAE Team Emirates-XRG ensured that the move was kept on a tight leash, leading to a selective group breaking clear from Pidcock to stand a greater chance of holding off the peloton for victory.

Pidcock’s position in the break briefly put him into virtual second place overall on the road, but the repeated efforts of back-to-back breakaway attempts eventually caught up with him on the Col du Haag.

The 26-year-old was distanced from the yellow jersey group on the final climb and battled valiantly to limit his losses over the final 15km. In the end, Pidcock came home on the tail of a group in 18th, 3:34 behind stage winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).

"I jumped across to the break, probably a mistake, with that last climb. But you know, whatever," Pidcock said post-stage.

The Briton felt the dynamics of the breakaway made it difficult for the move to gain momentum.

"In the end, that made it more difficult, because it was not really smooth, no one wanted to do anything," Pidcock said of his own presence in the group.

"But in the end Visma rode, I guess to make it harder for UAE, but they were going to ride their pace no matter what so it didn’t really change anything."

"But at least it meant I got a little bit of a head start in the final, but on the last climb I didn’t have much legs left."

After moving from 10th to fourth overall before falling back on Stage 14, Pidcock now sits ninth in the standings. He remains 26 seconds ahead of Lenny Martínez in 10th place but has a healthy buffer of 7:56 over Bernal in 11th.

Pidcock’s highest GC finish at the Tour came in 2023, when he finished 13th overall, and despite the setback, his aggressive racing has kept him firmly in the general classification conversation.