Tom Pidcock’s Tour de France GC hopes fade after brutal Tourmalet setback

Tadej Pogačar has dominated the 2026 Tour de France so far, just as many had predicted. Behind the Slovenian, however, the battle for the remaining podium places is still wide open. Isaac Del Toro, Paul Seixas, Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz are all still in contention. One rider who has suffered a major setback, though, is Tom Pidcock. After the race’s first serious mountain test, the Brit can all but forget about challenging for the general classification.

Pidcock finished third at last year’s Vuelta a España, earning the first Grand Tour podium of his career. His move to Pinarello-Q36.5 had paid off, and once the Swiss team secured a place at the 2026 Tour de France, its next major objective was immediately clear. Pidcock wanted to make his mark at La Grande Boucle, but the race has not unfolded as he hoped.

During the hilly stages early in the Tour, which appeared well suited to his qualities, the versatile Brit was largely anonymous. Things became considerably worse on the first mountain stage. Pidcock was dropped on the Col du Tourmalet, finished 15th and crossed the line 8 minutes and 18 seconds behind stage winner Pogačar. Pidcock described the stage as extremely difficult and praised teammate Chris Harper for remaining alongside him and looking after him. Even so, the disappointment was clear. In those situations, he told Domestique, “you just want to bury yourself in a hole.”

The cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road racing specialist is naturally at his best on shorter, more explosive climbs. His work on longer ascents appeared to pay off during last year’s Vuelta, but he has once again struggled with that type of effort in France. “I just don’t have it on the long climbs,” Pidcock acknowledged. He had ridden as hard as he could and would now have to assess what remained possible during the rest of the race.

Pidcock’s disrupted preparation is an important factor behind his disappointing performance. He crashed during the Volta a Catalunya and missed the race’s mountain stages. He then became ill and was forced to skip the Tour de Suisse, removing another crucial block of climbing and racing from his Tour build-up.

He did win the Andorra Morabanc Classicà on June 21, but that was his first race in approximately six weeks. Pidcock expects his condition to improve as the Tour progresses, although he admitted that missing so much preparation on longer climbs has not helped him.

With a podium finish now realistically out of reach, Pidcock is nevertheless determined not to become too negative. There are still two weeks of racing remaining, leaving opportunities to target a stage victory or join a successful breakaway. He did not believe his team’s performance had been disastrous; the level among the leading Tour contenders was simply exceptionally high. The priority now is to maintain morale, reassess the objectives and find another way to make an impact.

Pogačar’s dominant performance on stage 6 did not come as a surprise to Pidcock. He joked that he had not seen the world champion’s decisive attack because he had already been dropped by that point.

Pidcock had expected UAE Team Emirates-XRG to put everything on the line after previously losing the yellow jersey. He had even suggested before the stage that Pogačar could effectively win the Tour that day. While Pogačar now appears firmly in control, Pidcock’s race will shift towards recovery, greater tactical freedom and the pursuit of opportunities away from the general classification.