Currently training in Chile with his Pinarello-Q36.5 team, Tom Pidcock has been turning in some impressive rides over the past two weeks, although none more so than yesterday’s 200.2km epic.
Joined by new team-mate Fred Wright, as well as Fabio Christen, Xandro Meurisse and Quinten Hermans, the Yorkshire rider rode west out of the mountains to the plains north of capital Santiago, before turning back for a return journey that comprised more than 80km of almost unbroken climbing to their hotel at 2,750m of altitude.
(Image credit: Strava)
By the time they had got back, the riders had amassed Queen-stage levels of vertical ascent – 4,003m – and seven hours in the saddle, all at 28.5kph (17.4mph).
Pidcock gave little away beyond the bare stats, leaving the name as Strava‘s default ‘Morning Ride’ and opting not to post any comments. He did, however, rack up several top-10 awards and a few PRs too. Five of the latter were bagged on the final couple of hikes to the hotel, suggesting that he was, at least, trying pretty hard at this point.
Pidcock begins his season with a trio of smaller Spanish races in mid-February, including the hilly, five-day Ruta del Sol in Spain. Chile, it seems, is likely to have prepared him well.
His team has been talking in the Belgian press about the 25-day camp, noting the unique attractions of this unusual and far-flung training destination; while it is ostensibly an altitude camp, it could also be deemed an acclimatisation camp for the searing heat – 36°C in the valley where they do their intervals, according to Pidcock’s team-mate Meurisse.
“When you’re sheltered from the wind on the bike, it feels like an oven,” the Belgian told Het Laatse Nieuws. “Sweating is the order of the day.” Added to that is a UV Index of 14, meaning the riders have to reapply SPF50 several times a day in order to avoid being sunburned.
Despite the discomfort and the inconvenience the high temperatures bring, the advantages of training in Chile as opposed to the more traditional Mount Teide in Tenerife where it’s 10 degrees cooler, or Spain’s Sierra Nevada where there is still snow around, is not lost on the team.
“These days, every professional cyclist does heat training as an extra stimulus to expose their body to extreme conditions,” team rider Hermans pointed out to HLN. “They cycle indoors in warm clothing on rollers or go to the sauna, but here you simply do those heat sessions outside on the bike in shorts and sleeves.”
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