World Championship road race favourite Tom Pidcock claims leaving INEOS was 'best decision I've ever made in my career'

The fact that Pidcock is no longer an underdog in races like the World Championships is thanks to his development with his current team. During his four seasons with INEOS (now Netcompany INEOS), he regularly demonstrated his potential, but his dream of becoming a stage racer and winning major classics never quite came to fruition.

With Pinarello-Q36.5, he increased his win total from 5 to 15, and more importantly, Pidcock was almost always there when it mattered most. He finished on the podium at Strade Bianche, the Flèche Wallonne, and Milan–San Remo, but he made a huge leap forward especially in stage races. Pidcock performed consistently, won stages, and a third-place finish in the Vuelta a España was the highlight of 2025.

Leading up to the World Championships in Montréal, he finished ninth in the Tour de France (his first top-ten finish there), then went on to win a world title in mountain biking and immediately followed that up with a victory on the road at the GP Industria & Artigianato. As a warm-up for the World Championships, he had already traveled to Canada, where he finished fourth in the GP Québec and sixth in the GP Montréal.

All signs point to success, though Pidcock himself doesn’t consider himself the top favourite for the World Championships. “That role is more suited to Remco Evenepoel, Isaac del Toro, and Paul Seixas,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “But I’m going to give it a shot,” Pidcock added. He’s already facing a challenging course in Montreal, which he himself described as“an incredibly tough battle of attrition.”

But why not? Pidcock’s baseline performance has improved dramatically over the past two years, as he has proven on the road and on the mountain bike. “It took a long time before I felt comfortable on the bike again after the Tour de France. I didn’t feel well during training, and that makes it hard to stay motivated. We postponed my participation in the Mountain Bike World Championships three times.”

In the end, everything fell into place, just as it seems to time and again with his current team. Pidcock is enjoying himself, and that’s what matters most, knowing that he wants to continue combining road and mountain biking at least until the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. “And I have a pretty high threshold—I have to work harder to really enjoy myself and have fun.”

Pidcock had lost his passion for INEOS, so he now feels confident enough to say: “We both thought it was best to part ways, so my departure from INEOS was all but certain. But choosing another team was a long process that took a lot of time and thought. Now I can say with confidence that it was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my career.”

A tough blow for INEOS, but a bull’s-eye for Pidcock: “I’ve never made a wrong decision in my career when it comes to choosing a team,” said the Brit, who considers enjoyment to be the deciding factor. “I’m at my best when I’m having fun. You can see that in my personality and the way I race—and in everything that goes along with it.”