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Tom Pidcock broke a famous Strava KOM but deleted it…so did it really happen?

The MTB world champ broke Juan Ayuso Pesquera’s record on a tough climb in Spain

05-07-2023 Tour De France; Tappa 05 Pau - Lauruns; 2023, Ineos Grenadiers; Pidcock, Thomas; Pau; Photo by: Sirotti
February 7, 2024
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Tom Pidcock joined the secret society of Strava on Tuesday when he broke a KOM…and then promptly deleted it. The Coll de Rates is a 6.52 km long segment in Parcent, Spain with an average gradient of 5.2 per cent, with a total elevation gain of 340 m.

On Sunday, Juan Ayuso Pesquera took the KOM with a time of 12:49, but Piddy bettered it on Tuesday. The Ineos-Grenadiers rider smoked the record by almost fifteen seconds, with a time of 12:31. Some other familiar names are up there on the leader board, including two-time Tour de France winner, Jonas Vingegaard. Granted, the Dane’s fourth-best time is from 2018, and he’s quite a bit faster now.

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Why did Pidcock delete it? Is he like so many other riders, becoming cagey about their data? In 2023, world road and cross champion, Mathieu van der Poel stopped making his numbers on Strava public. Former pro cyclist José De Cauwer said it made sense to do so.

“And again I read a lot about Strava. As if you have to prove on that platform that you are ready to win a race and that you necessarily have to show the rest how good you are,” the Belgian said. “I wouldn’t put any data on Strava myself. Why not? Why is that? How come football teams train behind closed doors? I don’t need Strava to make estimates.”

However, the X user, @InsideOut2912 managed to screen cap the impressive time and wondered if this might bode well for Pidcock in July.

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“New KOM on Coll de Rates set by Tom Pidcock (he deleted the file shortly afterwards),” the post read. “Who believes in his GC-chances at the Tour de France?”

The British cyclist rode a condensed ‘cross season this year, as he said he had bigger goals for the road season, including the Tour.

“This year, I want to fully focus on the general classification.” Pidcock said in December.“I won’t be able to say specifically what my goal is until later.

He added that a top 10 was his focus for 2024.