Pidcock’s team determined to close three minutes on Vingegaard and co: "We’ll analyze the Vuelta in detail"

The 26-year-old Brit from Q36.5 had been saying for several years that he wanted to compete for GCs in Grand Tours, but during his time with INEOS Grenadiers, that never happened. The combination of road cycling and mountain biking, disciplines in which he won world, European, and Olympic titles, was still too prominent until he switched to Q36.5 last winter.

At the pro-continental team, he concluded the cyclo-cross season and used his mountain bike only a few times, including for a European Championship title. Pidcock focused entirely on the road and did so successfully. After a good winter, he won two stages and the overall classification in the AlUla Tour, a stage in the Ruta del Sol, and a stage in the Tour of Norway.

More impressive than his victories, however, were his performances in the races he did not win. He finished second in Strade Bianche, where he was able to keep up with Tadej Pogacar for a long time in the final. He finally achieved his long-awaited podium place in the Flèche Wallonne and also performed well in the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Expectations were high when Q36.5 received a wildcard for the Giro d'Italia. Pidcock participated, but said he would not necessarily go for the GC. Twenty-one days of full throttle, and then they would see what it had yielded in terms of stage wins and GC. He finished 16th in Rome, but a stage win was never really a possibility.

At the start of the Vuelta, Pidcock explained that he was actually too tired in the Giro after a busy spring. He had prepared well for the Tour of Spain, however, with altitude training at his home in Andorra. And he said he would go all out for the GC. "I hope to put that into practice, because the numbers in training were better than in the Giro.“

And then, three weeks later, he suddenly appeared at the Visma | Lease a Bike bus, in a friendly gathering between the Vuelta teams. Pidcock had finished third, behind Jonas Vingegaard and Almeida. He was aiming for the top ten, he said after stage 20 on the Bola del Mundo. ”The top five was optimistic, and here we are... on the podium."

“The work we've done and the shape the team has got me in gives me more confidence than ever that I can win a Grand Tour,” he also said. But what work has he done? His coach Kurt Bogaerts explained that on The Cycling Podcast. “We're three minutes behind the winner, so we know that if we want to win a Grand Tour, we have to close that gap.”

Bogaerts realizes that it was only the Vuelta, with Vingegaard having already done the Tour de France. But Pidcock's preparation was not optimal either. "We are going to try to replicate this and analyze this Vuelta in detail. What can we do better? And what did we already do well? Let's make it achievable, the progression. And you also need to know what the competition is going to improve.“

With Eddie Dunbar, Chris Hamilton, and Xandro Meurisse, Pidcock will have some uphill reinforcement at Q36.5. And reportedly, Pinarello will replace the current bike sponsor, Scott. ”When Tom sets his mind to something, he doesn't often fail."