Pidcock swaps Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallonne for Tour of the Alps

Tom Pidcock was touted as one of the top favourites for this year's Amstel Gold Race, but the 2024 winner (and two-time podium finisher) has opted to swap the first two Ardennes Classics for a debut appearance at the five-stage Tour of the Alps. The Pinarello-Q36.5 leader is returning to competition three weeks after a crash forced him to withdraw from the Volta a Catalunya, where he had been sitting second overall before plummeting down the standings on the incident-marred stage 5. At the Tour of the Alps, typically considered a Giro d'Italia warm-up race, Pidcock will meet a strong field of Giro contenders including reigning Tour of the Alps champ Michael Storer (Tudor), Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) and Derek Gee-West (Lidl-Trek), while Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) is also making his long-awaited return from injury. Pidcock will return to the Ardennes for the fourth Monument of the season at Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he will take on Milan-San Remo nemesis Tadej Pogačar for the third time this season.