Pidcock and Q36.5 head to Liège with confidence: "If we ride like that on Sunday, Tom will be in the mix for the win"

This Sunday, the sports director for Pidcock and his teammates will be Michael Albasini. The 44-year-old Swiss retired from professional cycling in 2020 and stepped into a role as sports director at Q36.5 this year. As the team leader, the former rider will be at the start of La Doyenne, the race in which he finished second in 2016, after Wout Poels beat him in the sprint.

Nevertheless, Albasini still holds fond memories of the Belgian classic. "Liège-Bastogne-Liège is always around Easter. As a kid I used to watch it at my grandparents’ home on Easter Sundays. It comes with warm memories. Since I started watching it and later when I started racing it, it’s been a favorite. It’s such an epic race. Almost like a journey as the other big Monuments are. There is so much history here. It builds up from Liège to Bastogne and then becomes really intense on the leg back to Liège," said the team boss on the website of the Swiss outfit.

Sunday presents another chance (the final one!) for Q36.5 to score a strong result in the spring, although Albasini has often seen his team perform well. "We had some bad luck in the Amstel Gold Race as most of the team was involved in that big crash. Wednesday we saw already what good teamwork can do. If we ride like that this Sunday, Tom will be in the mix for the win."

Still, it’s not just good teamwork that will help the Swiss team achieve a result. "You need a bit of luck but we also have the quality in this team to go for a great result. He (Pidcock, ed.) already has a tenth and a second place in this race so it suits him well." Besides Pidcock, Q36.5 will rely on Marcel Camprubí, David de la Cruz, Milan Vader, Mark Donovan, Nick Zukowsky, and Xabier Mikel Azparren on Sunday.

According to Albasini, the same riders who contended for victory in the Flèche Wallonne will be in the mix again on Sunday. However: "We saw in Amstel Gold Race that the long-range attack we know from Tadej Pogacar didn’t work. Therefore Flèche saw a more traditional final. We don’t know what the scenario will be on Sunday." The team is prepared for all possibilities. "Whether it’s a long move or whether it comes down to La Roche aux Faucons or a sprint in Liège. We did a good recon on Thursday. Positioning before the climbs is key in the second half of the race so you don’t lose too much energy. It will be an interesting race as always," Albasini concluded.

Tom Pidcock