Pidcock victorious in grueling African Gravel Race and sets sights on Grand Tour-succes: 'I believe more and more'

For Tom Pidcock, there is no such thing as an offseason. Everybody knows the man from Leeds does not like to sit still. However, in addition to road cycling, mountainbiking and cyclocross, he focuses more and more on Gravel racing. This week he impressed in South Africa, where he also opened up about his grand tour plans and his first year with Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

In the African country, Pidcock competed in the Gravel Burn, a seven-day gravel race over 800 kilometers, with no less than 11,000 vertical meters. It started off poorly for the Brit: The first stage, he finished 32nd out of 38, and a day later even second-to-last. It meant that he would not be playing any role in the battle for the general classification.

The overall victory went to South-African Matthew Beers, who beat Swiss pro Simon Pellaud for the win. Pidcock was already almost 2 hours behind after 2 days, but later in the race he recovered quite impressively: in the fifth stage, with 137 kilometers and 1700 vertical meters, the rider of Q36.5 Pro Cycling ended up winning.

One day later, the all-rounder finished fourth, but in the final stage from Gwannishi to Shamwari, he was unable to impress. As a result, he finished the race in 26th place out of 31 riders. Pidcock was not the only Brit to compete: Lawrence Carpenter ended up finishing 30th, 3 hours and 17 minutes down on the winner, while legendary triathlete Alistair Brownlee finished in 23rd.

It may not have been the result Pidcock had hoped for, but it provided stunning images. Winning a stage was nice enough, but the South African landscape came through and gave the riders plenty to look at. Except in the third stage, as the riders had to compete in utter darkness: madness, we say, although it does look very cool.

Pidcock is currently riding in a ProTour-team, having made the switch from World-Tour team INEOS Grenadiers. It was a eye-catching move, and it raised a lot of eyebrows. However, he is not the first superstar at a lower level: Peter Sagan also made a similar switch, and Mathieu van der Poel, too, was the big man at Pro-continental Fenix-Deceuninck.

'I guess we could make some comparisons,' says Pidcock in conversation with La Gazzetta dello Sport. 'I feel very involved in the team in general, not just in the sporting side, but also making decisions and making the team grow. That really excites me, because then I’m behind every decision, you know? It definitely feels like its partly my project.'

Pidcock finished third in this year's Vuelta a España, his first top result in a major tour. It was a relief after years of questionable results at INEOS Grenadiers, where he often bombarded himself with much noise as a GC leader, only to drop when the mountains came into view. But at Q36.5 Pro Cycling, everything seems to be falling into place.

'I think a grand Tour is not the thing I enjoy the most, but for me, it is definitely the biggest challenge in any discipline of cycling,' said Pidcock, who looked forward to next season. 'I definitely want to continue with that challenge. It’s nice to have challenges and to achieve them. It’s the hardest thing to achieve, but after the podium, I believe more and more.'

Despite all the succes on the road, the allrounder will not leave the other disciplines behind. 'I get the most enjoyment out of mountainbike, for sure. It’s a nice environment, it’s relaxed - It’s just an enjoyable place to race and perform. I think I naturally have the most talent on the mountainbike, so it’s always easier, isn’t it?'