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Tom Pidcock rejoins the fray this week in a decisive block of racing to prove he can take on and take down riders like Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel across the Ardennes.

Coming off some R&R and training camps after a frustrating crash at Milan-San Remo denied him a proper shot at the finale, the double Olympic gold medalist is keen to show he deserves a place among the best in the elite men’s peloton.

After racing Friday against comeback kid Evenepoel at Brabantse Pijl, Pidcock will be on a collision course with Pogačar for the rest of April.

Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège will see Pidcock squaring off against half of the “Big 4.”

Also read: Pidcock: ‘I’ve been let off my lead’

He’s hoping to pick up on what’s been a spectacular start to 2025.

A first-ever GC win and trading blows with Pogačar over the gravel roads of Tuscany early this season zipped the lips of any critics over his high-profile move to Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

A strong showing to close out the spring classics could see him elbowing up the hierarchy just as he and the team prepare to pivot toward the Giro d’Italia, after the team earned a wild-card invite (and the Vuelta a España as well).

Velo recently caught up with longtime coach and mentor Kurt Bogaerts to take the temperature on his star pupil’s season so far:

‘Tom is a better rider than last year’
Kurt Bogaerts, Tom PidcockBogaerts, right, joins Pidcock at a press conference. (Photo: DAVID PINTENS / Belga / AFP) / Belgium OUT)

Velo: Tom’s had a great spring. What’s been the highlight for you, just looking at his performances?
Bogaerts: I think more like a general improvement of Tom, and I think he’s just a better rider at the moment compared with last year. He’s performing consistently on a higher level. I don’t think there are particular highlights, but just consistent high-level. I think that’s what it is.

Velo: He’s been switching hats between stage racing and one-days. Does that have to change his preparation and training?
Bogaerts: I think Tom is a versatile rider. Tom is not a rider who particularly goes for one type of racing. He really loves the general racing. When we go to a race, we try to perform, and if there’s a stage race or a one-day race, we try to make a plan to be in the game for the podium or to win.

Velo: He’s had early wins and consistent performances. Is that a result of many factors, like the new team, leadership, and support?
Bogaerts: I think changing environment is definitely giving him new energy. I think, yeah, he’s also a year older, a lot more experienced in the racing, and I think he had a good winter. I think that’s a boring point, but that’s most of the time the most important point—how you do your winter. If you can do a consistent block of training without getting injured or sick, then basically you build on the day before. And that kind of happened a little bit along the season, that he could go from race to race and had no setbacks.

Velo: And that matters even more in a season like this?
Bogaerts: That’s a strong point that you don’t have under control, your health. You can do a lot, I think, if you look after yourself. But with Tom, he stayed healthy and definitely benefited from that.

‘He made a massive step forward’
PidcockPidcock is used to the pressure that comes with the limelight. (Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

Velo: Going head-to-head against Pogačar at Strade Bianche; there aren’t many people who can do that, what’s that say about Pidcock right now?
Bogaerts: I think he made a massive step forward, and he showed courage, the courage that you want to see from a good rider. That will bring him success sooner or later. But I think there you also see his progress as a rider. If you can ride with the best rider in the world for a long time, and you’re not afraid to cooperate, and then the best guy wins, that just shows where we are at the moment.

He’s with the better riders at the moment, but he’s not the best. There’s work to do to still try to close the gap. You don’t know if that’s possible or not, but we have the ambition and belief that it’s possible.

Velo: How important was it psychologically to have this early success, especially with the pressure of the transfer?
Bogaerts: I don’t think it’s a problem for him, but winning is always nice. I think Tom would like to win. It’s not easy for him to win, as he does not have a sprint that can beat everyone. So, when you don’t have a winning sprint, it’s difficult in cycling. Then you basically need to be a lot better than second to be able to ride away. That’s not so easy.

But winning is always good for you and for the team. Then it shows that you’re working in the right direction. Winning always gives a unique energy and boost, and you can’t deny that it helps. But in the end, I think he knows what he’s capable of and how to prepare. If the win was not coming early, we would just continue working.

‘Frustrating you can’t show what you have’
PidcockAnother battle with Pogačar looms in the Ardennes. (Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Velo: There was some frustration at Milan-San Remo. He was caught behind the crash going into the Cipressa?
Bogaerts: Yeah. When you work towards a goal, and it was his last race from a big block, and then you hit the deck at a crucial point, well … we analyzed a lot of what happened. I think he was not in the best position, but he was not in a bad place. He was like 25th position. We got all the pictures from when he hit the ground.

Of course, you could be better placed. When you’re first into Cipressa, it’s less risk. But 25th place, I think Pogačar, at the moment of the crash, was 10 places behind him. He was on the right side. Tom was on the left side. So it’s just frustrating that you can’t show what you have in you on the day.

In the end, if you see the race circumstance, there would have been a really good scenario for Tom to be in the mix. So it’s unfortunate. He took a little bit of time off. Next races are the classics, then the Giro.

Velo: What’s the approach for the Ardennes?
Bogaerts: Now we try to be in our best possible preparation for this block of racing in the Ardennes — Brabantse Pijl, Amstel, Flèche, Liège. I think it’s good that you work towards a period where you have not one chance but potentially four chances to try to do a big performance. So that it’s not everything on one race. I think there are four races with characteristics that suit him. He likes these races, and it makes sense, also knowing that he raced early this season. So he took a small break to refresh.

‘Not closing doors at Giro d’Italia’
Pidcock AlUla TourPidcock of Arabia? The 2025 season couldn’t have started off better for him with GC win at the AlUla Tour. (Photo: LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images)

Velo: Is the plan to go to the Giro d’Italia to chase stage wins?
Bogaerts: We’ll see. I think we are free. We have no pressure. We have ambition — high ambitions — and we’ve said there is no limitation factor. Let’s go step by step, and see how he gets through the first week or so, how the mental and physical freshness is. Then we make a plan. But when you have a racing block with goals already in the first part of the season, like the classics and Milan-San Remo, then it’s not set in stone to go with ambition for GC.

The nice thing with Tom is that when he’s in a good frame of mind and healthy, he can explore the race and see what’s in it for him. I wouldn’t close any doors. It’s definitely a goal to develop him as a GC rider. A grand tour again would be really important to continue the growth. For him, a grand tour for the first time after a big block of racing could make him a lot stronger for the future.

Velo: What are your final thoughts on Pogačar racing Paris-Roubaix?
Bogaerts: I think it’s nice for the sport that this is coming back, these versatile riders trying new things. I grew up with Sean Kelly. He was the type of rider who did both the classics and the grand tours. Now you see some riders have the physical capabilities to do it, and they’re doing it. I think it’s massive for the sport. You can only encourage it.

There is a high risk involved, but not more than in any other race. We saw last year in the Basque Country, it was a massive crash, and many key riders were out with long-term injuries. The risks are what they are. As a sport, as riders, and as teams, we need to think about how to minimize those risks. But I don’t see [Roubaix] as particularly more dangerous than any other race.

PidcockPidcock, right, is elbowing up the WorldTour hierarchy. (Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)