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Tom Pidcock has blasted away on the toughest ascent of the AIUIa Tour to claim a stunning second solo stage win in three days, boost his lead, and take a giant step towards overall victory in 24 hours’ time.
The Q36.5 racer stomped on the pedals nine kilometres from the finish on the stage from Maraya to Skyviews of Harrat Uwayrid, crowned the top of the key climb of the race with a 25-second advantage, then continued alone across the flatlands that followed to the line.
Second after a concerted pursuit, 15 seconds back, was Alan Hatherly (Jayco-AIUIa) with Rainer Kepplinger (Bahrain Victorious) in third.
Pidcock’s solo demonstration, though, both underlined the Briton’s climbing superiority in the five-day AIUIa Tour and, barring disaster, should see him claim a first overall victory for his new Q36.5 team on Saturday.
The British racer said it had been a tough challenge keeping the chasing group of four at bay, but said he had set his own pace on the climb, and was delighted to have been able to clinch the win.
“Offence is the best form of defence sometimes,” he said. “Coming into this race I was told that it’s normally a tailwind on this climb but now it’s a headwind and it was a long eight [final] kilometres.
“When it came to winning, Pidcock’s keeping the chasers at a distance on the flat segment after the climb was as important as his initial attack,” he said.
“There were four guys behind, I don’t know how well they were working, but on your own along there, you can’t go out of the saddle at 50 kmh. So it was a long way.
“But I’m really happy, I extended the lead and it gives us a bit of a buffer going into tomorrow.”
More to come…
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