'Tadej Pogacar territory' - Tom Pidcock delivers 'moral win' on Stage 11 of La Vuelta 2025 after leaving Jonas Vingegaard 'grimacing'
Published 03/09/2025 at 22:11 GMT+1
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Tom Pidcock has been described as taking the "moral victory" at La Vuelta despite Stage 11 finishing without a winner due to protests at the finish. The British rider ended the day with two stunning attacks during the final climb to drop general classification leader Jonas Vingegaard. TNT Sports pundits Matt Stephens and Adam Blythe were blown away with Pidcock's performance.
‘Hard to describe the disappointment’ – Pidcock reflects on strange end to Stage 11
Video credit: TNT Sports
Former British cycling star Matt Stephens says Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) took a "moral win" on Stage 11 of La Vuelta - despite his clear disappointment of being denied victory due to protests at the finish line in Bilbao.
The British rider’s stunning attacks on the final climb saw him drop general classification leader Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) but the stage was neutralised and finished without a winner.
A race direction announcement said: "Due to some incidents at the finish line, we have decided to take the time at 3 kilometres before the line.
"We won't have a stage winner. We will give the points for the mountain classification and the intermediate sprint, but not on the finish line."
Pidcock was angry about the situation after the stage came to an end and told reporters: "Today was my day."
The feelings of annoyance were not replicated on The Breakaway on TNT Sports, where Stephen and Adam Blythe marvelled at Pidcock’s performance.
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Highlights: Pidcock makes GC statement as Stage 11 ends without winner
Video credit: TNT Sports
"I’m buzzing about that. That is the first time Jonas Vingegaard has been distanced this race and the only other man to distance him is none other than Tadej Pogacar, so I am excited.
"Tom Pidcock is now a GC rider! 100%, through and through!
"The performance that Tom’s done in here, if this was the Tour De France we would be shouting from the rooftops about what’s just happened but because it’s the Vuelta, we look at it differently.
"But there’s no beating around the bush, he’s just dropped Jonas Vingegaard, one of the best Grand Tour riders in the past 10-15 years.
"We really have to get behind that performance that Tom’s done because I think that arguably that will be a performance that Tom will put above a lot of things."
Reflecting on the day’s action, Stephens said: "That, for me, is a moral win anyway.
"I think he would’ve put Jonas away in the sprint, but we’ll never know. He turned himself inside out there, you could see the grimace on his face.
"We saw Jonas sit back down and shake his head and we saw his gritted teeth as well. We very rarely see Jonas in that sort of position.
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‘It’s Pogacar territory’ – Blithe, Stephens ‘excited’ about Pidcock’s GC credentials
Video credit: TNT Sports
Pidcock is third in the general classification, behind Vingegaard and Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirate XRG).
Discussing his chances of keeping up with the favourites, Stephens said: "We’ve got all these big climbs to come, we don’t know what’s in the future, let’s hope he can continue to be a threat.
"But for him to be pure Tom Pidcock, halfway through a Grand Tour and tear it apart like that is absolutely fantastic."
Blythe added: "Yes, it was terrain that suited him but that was huge for Tom.
"Tom does feed off of confidence, he grows off of confidence. He will only get better from now on in. Which, better than that, flipping heck, is Tadej Pogacar territory.
"We’ve got a lot longer climbs coming up which are more difficult for Tom but the mental battle he’s got against Almeida and Jonas, this is the most important for me that he will have confidence and the others will start to look at him in a "can’t let him go now" way.
"With Tom, he’s not proven over this length of time, so they’ll look at him saying, ‘he’s not too much to worry about’.
"However, the performance he put in today, they’ll have a lot to worry about with Tom because there’s a lot of short, punchy climbs coming up that suit Tom down to the ground. He’s won a mental battle against them, I think.
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