Tom Pidcock faces uncertain return after horror crash in Catalunya

Although Pidcock remounted and completed stage 5 of the Volta a Catalunya after crashing into a ravine on the descent of Collada Sobirana, he was a non-starter the following day. His team explained that he had sustained “bone and ligament damage, in particular to his right knee.” 

Speaking to Domestique, Pinarello-Q36.5 manager Doug Ryder said that the team has been monitoring his recovery closely, but it is still too soon to set a date for Pidcock’s return to training.

“There’s no firm idea or understanding when he will be back on a bike or racing at the moment,” Ryder said. “We’re just trying to get the fluid off the knee and the swelling down and all that kind of stuff, so we just have to wait.

“As the swelling goes down, we can start to use the CT scans to understand more of the details. There’s been some trauma there, but it all depends on how he responds, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

“We’d rather be a bit more cautious. The knee has many joints and facets to it, so you’ve got to be quite cautious around that. We’re being cautious to make sure that he has a good recovery, and we don’t push it too early.”

Pidcock had been in sparkling form prior to his crash, winning Milano-Torino last month before falling inches short of beating Tadej Pogacar at Milan-Sanremo. He then made a confident start to the Volta a Catalunya, where he had hoped to test his climbing credentials ahead of a tilt at the general classification of the Tour de France in July.

The Ardennes Classics were due to be the next major rendezvous for Pidcock, but it is not clear if he will be able to participate.

“It’s too soon to say,” Ryder said. “We’ve prepared for both circumstances, but it’s too soon to say when he could be back.”

Pidcock’s crash has also served to bring the proposed use of GPS trackers for safety into sharper focus. After riding off the road and into a ravine, Pidcock was fortunate that he was able to radio his Pinarello-36.5 management to flag his crash and alert them to his whereabouts.

“Our team car was 1.2k down the road, so that’s indicator for us all to do a better job collectively,” said Ryder, who welcomed recent discussions between the UCI and teams regarding the introduction of mandatory GPS tracking. 

“There’s a lot of amazing conversations around it, and nobody is shirking any responsibility here. Everybody understands completely, since the tragedy at the Swiss World Championships, which was devastating. Everybody – all the teams, the race organisers, the UCI – is 100% committed to finding a way to get an agreement where we can all benefit from it.”