As the peloton raced higher and higher up into the fog that shrouded the brutal slopes of the fabled Angliru on stage 13 of the Vuelta a España, Tom Pidcock’s face was set into a grimace. His cadence was slow, his slight frame crumbled over his bike and the figures of João Almeida, Jonas Vingegaard and Jai Hindley were fading out of sight in front of him. It looked, for a moment, like the Q36.5 rider had been beaten by the mountain. The hellish Angliru is known to crush dreams and destroy hope and Pidcock – just when we thought he was riding his best-ever Grand Tour – was close to becoming one of its victims.

But this is a bike rider who battles on. While it looked like the gap to his general classification rivals was widening, just as the wall of the Angliru was getting steeper, Pidcock, somehow, began to claw his way back. It was a lesson in perseverance, patience and maturity – characteristics that we’ve only really started to see in the British rider during this Vuelta so far. The result of Pidcock’s efforts was that he limited his losses on the stage that many expected to pose the biggest challenge to his fight for the podium in this race. He conceded 1 minute and 16 seconds to stage winner Almeida, but only 48 seconds to Hindley, who now sits in fourth place on the general classification. It’s worth noting that Angliru is a climb where minutes can be lost in just a matter of kilometres on a bad day. Pidcock aced the test like an A-grade student.

So where does this leave the battle for the red jersey at the Vuelta a España as it ticks just over the halfway point? Race leader Vingegaard and UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Almeida in second place are clearly a cut above when it comes to the most challenging climbs. They proved that on the Angliru when they came through the mist and crossed the finish line together, the two strongest men in this race. Below them, though, it is still anyone’s game in the fight for third.

Jai Hindley now sits in fourth place overall (Image: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)

Former Giro d’Italia winner Hindley is proving to be in some of his career-best form so far – he climbed four places on the GC after his performance on the Angliru. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider is now just 42 seconds behind Pidcock in the podium battle, with another big mountain stage to make a difference this weekend. Just 15 seconds behind Hindley, though, is Felix Gall of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, who has been steadily consistent in every key stage of this race so far. Less than one minute separates Pidcock in third and Gall in fifth. While the Angliru gave us some indication of where each contender’s climbing form ranks, there’s no mountains quite as challenging for the peloton to face as the Vuelta rolls on towards Madrid, which makes stage 13 somewhat of an anomaly.For Pidcock, ticking off the Angliru and holding onto his podium position is a big win – this was a stage that had the potential to completely derail his GC ambitions. While there are still big challenges to come, namely stage 20’s summit finish on the Puerto de Navacerrada, there are also stages which suit the British rider’s strengths – the flat time trial on stage 18 around Valladolid is a chance for Pidcock to claw back seconds.

However, there are others who will, of course, want to do everything they can to crack the Q36.5 man. Hindley is hot on his heels and looks to be performing better on the long climbs, and both the Red Bull rider and Decathlon’s Gall have experience and a history of performing well in the third week of Grand Tours. Pidcock is undoubtedly the scrappy underdog who dreams of finishing on the podium in Madrid, but his approach to the race so far is encouraging. There are eight stages left where anything can happen in this Vuelta a España, but as he showed on the Angliru, Pidcock will fight until the bitter end.