Tom Pidcock was left furious at the Tre Valli Varesine after two of his Pinarello-Q36.5 teammates were knocked off their bikes by a police motorbike that, according to the British rider, was travelling in the wrong direction on the race course.
Pidcock still managed to finish second in the Italian one-day classic on Tuesday, October 6, but the result was almost secondary to what had happened during the race. The incident involving Marcel Camprubí and Thomas Gloag once again put rider safety under the spotlight, particularly after the tragic death of 19-year-old British cyclist Finlay Tarling in August.
Speaking to Eurosport after the finish, Pidcock admitted that his immediate reaction was to consider stopping the race altogether.
“First of all, I wanted to stop the race, stop racing myself. I was mad.”
The former Olympic and world champion explained that he had watched teammates riding ahead of him before suddenly seeing both riders on the ground.
“I had guys all riding in front of me, for me, and then two of them are on the floor.”
For Pidcock, the situation was difficult to accept. Professional cyclists depend on race organisers, police officers, motorcycles, cars and other support vehicles to keep the course controlled. When a vehicle enters the racing line unexpectedly, the consequences can be severe.
“Things like this shouldn’t happen,” Pidcock said after the race.
What happened to Pidcock’s teammates?
The incident occurred with around six laps of the finishing circuit remaining at Tre Valli Varesine.
Spanish rider Marcel Camprubí and British teammate Thomas Gloag were involved after, according to Pidcock, a police motorbike travelled the wrong way down the course and collided with the riders. Cyclingnews also reported Pidcock’s account of the incident and confirmed that the two Pinarello-Q36.5 riders were Camprubí and Gloag.
Camprubí was able to get back on his bike and continue racing.
Gloag, however, was unable to finish. Pidcock said his teammate was ultimately okay but required stitches to his knee.
That distinction is important. Neither rider was reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries from the incident, but the fact that a police motorcycle allegedly entered the course in the wrong direction created another major concern about how professional cycling races are protected.
Camprubí later shared a photograph of his damaged bicycle on Instagram Stories and expressed his frustration at having to risk his life while racing.
Pidcock responded with a simple but powerful message:
“These accidents must stop.”
The race organisers and local police have been contacted for comment over the incident.
Pidcock still produced a huge result
Despite the distraction and the frightening incident involving his teammates, Pidcock managed to refocus and play a major role in the finale.
The British rider attacked late in the race and helped form a three-man leading group alongside Belgium’s Jarno Widar and America’s Matteo Jorgenson.
The trio stayed clear of the chasing group and entered the final kilometres with the victory within reach.
Pidcock ultimately finished second after Widar produced the strongest sprint.
Widar, riding for Lotto-Intermarché, claimed the biggest victory of his professional career, beating Pidcock and Jorgenson in the three-man finish.
The result also gave Pidcock another runner-up finish after his second place at the Giro dell’Emilia. Widar’s victory was his first professional win and came against two established stars of the sport.
But the result was clearly not the main subject on Pidcock’s mind afterwards.
His comments showed just how quickly a race can change when rider safety becomes an issue.
Why the Finlay Tarling tragedy makes this even more serious
Pidcock’s anger comes at a particularly sensitive time for professional cycling.
Just weeks earlier, British cyclist Finlay Tarling died during the Volta a Portugal after being involved in a collision with a vehicle on the race route.
Tarling was only 19 years old and was riding for NSN Development Team. British Cycling confirmed his death on August 14 and described the young rider as a valued member of the Great Britain Cycling Team.
According to reporting from Portuguese broadcaster RTP, Tarling was involved in a collision with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction on the race course. The eighth stage was subsequently suspended.
The tragedy shocked the cycling community because it highlighted one of the most dangerous aspects of road racing: cyclists can be travelling at high speed on a closed or controlled road, yet unexpected vehicles can still enter their path.
That is why the incident at Tre Valli Varesine is likely to generate such a strong reaction.
For riders, it is not simply another crash.
A normal racing crash can happen because of positioning, weather, road conditions or a rider’s mistake. A collision involving a vehicle travelling against the direction of the race raises a completely different question about course management and safety procedures.
Pidcock’s reaction reflected that frustration.
Rider safety cannot be an afterthought
Professional cycling is already a dangerous sport. Riders regularly descend mountain roads at extremely high speeds, race through narrow streets and compete within centimetres of one another.
That makes the management of race vehicles particularly important.
Motorcycles and cars have an important role in races. They carry officials, photographers, television crews and race personnel. But every vehicle on the course must operate with the same understanding of where the riders are and how quickly the peloton can arrive.
The Tre Valli Varesine incident will inevitably raise questions about whether enough safeguards were in place.
The fact that Pidcock was able to continue and finish on the podium should not overshadow what happened to Camprubí and Gloag.
For the riders themselves, the priority is simple: they need to know that the road ahead is safe.
And after Tarling’s death, incidents involving vehicles are understandably going to attract even greater scrutiny.
Pidcock now turns his attention to the next big challenge
There was at least one positive for Pidcock from Tre Valli Varesine. His second-place finish showed that he remains in strong form heading into the final major races of the season.
The British rider was aggressive in the closing stages and was one of the key figures behind the decisive move.
Widar’s sprint was simply too strong in the end.
But Pidcock’s next race will come with a much bigger target on his back as the season reaches its climax. Tre Valli Varesine traditionally serves as an important build-up race for Il Lombardia, one of cycling’s five Monuments.
After everything that happened in Varese, however, Pidcock will likely have more than the result on his mind.
The cycling world has spent months talking about rider safety. The latest incident has provided another uncomfortable reminder that even the best-controlled races can become dangerous within seconds.
Pidcock’s message was blunt: these accidents must stop.
That is a message that will resonate far beyond his own team.
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