{"id":426630,"date":"2025-09-15T15:56:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T15:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/426630\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T15:56:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T15:56:18","slug":"what-next-for-pidcock-confidence-i-could-win-a-grand-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/426630\/","title":{"rendered":"What Next for Pidcock? ‘Confidence I Could Win a Grand Tour’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pidcock’s coach cracked the GC code to deliver a breakout Vuelta podium finish for the multi-discipine star. But now the Brit might face some tough choices. \n<\/p>\n

\"Pidcock\"<\/p>\n

(Photo: Tim de Waele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Updated September 15, 2025 07:03AM<\/p>\n

Was a grand tour star born in Tom Pidcock<\/a> at this Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>?<\/p>\n

A breakout podium finish Sunday at the Vuelta could push Pidcock\u2019s wildly diverse three-discipline palmar\u00e8s a whole new trajectory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came here for top-10, top-5 was optimistic, and here I am now on the podium,\u201d Pidcock said Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work we\u2019ve done, this team, the shape they\u2019ve got me in, it gives me more confidence than ever that one day I could win a grand tour,\u201d Pidcock said after he gutted it out with the pure climbers on the Bola del Mundo.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for now, I\u2019ll enjoy this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pidcock stitched together three of his best weeks of road racing<\/a> across this wildly dramatic edition of La Vuelta.<\/p>\n

Power bests and a newfound patience suggested that, after years of hype<\/a>, maybe Pidcock could be a grand tour player after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t know what to say now, except that I\u2019m pretty proud of myself,\u201d Pidcock said Saturday. \u201cI think it\u2019s definitely the biggest performance of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The final La Vuelta 2025 podium \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard adds a third Grand Tour title to his palmares by winning the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, while Tom Pidcock secures the first Grand Tour podium of his career and Jo\u00e3o Almeida his second. <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf8 Sprint Cycling
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\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 #LaVuelta25<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wrTyPG2xpE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Velon CC (@VelonCC) September 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The cycling world seems to be Pidcock\u2019s oyster right now.<\/p>\n

Finishing third behind Jonas Vingegaard and Jo\u00e3o Almeida after a day of mayhem Sunday in Madrid<\/a> might make Pidcock the most \u201ccomplete\u201d male rider in modern cycling.<\/p>\n

A grand tour podium, Olympic cross-country MTB and cyclocross world titles, and wins at Strade Bianche and Amstel Gold?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a collection that would do Pidcock\u2019s former Ineos teammate Pauline Ferrand-Pr\u00e9vot proud.<\/p>\n

Cracking the GC code
\n\"PidcockPidcock hung tough with the pure climbers on the steeps of Bola del Mundo on stage 20. (Photo: Harry Talbot \/ Gruber \/ Velo)<\/p>\n

In the longer term, Pidcock\u2019s all-terrain capacity could cause complications.<\/p>\n

Pidcock has long been stalked by suggestions he\u2019s trying too much.<\/p>\n

For now at least, it seems the legacy-hunting Brit has become transfixed by the challenge of general classification. And that\u2019s just as well \u2013 his new Q36.5 Pro Cycling<\/a> team has WorldTour and Tour de France dreams, after all.<\/p>\n

How far could Pidcock go across three weeks?<\/p>\n

His long-time coach Kurt Bogaerts suggested to The Cycling Podcast<\/a>\u00a0the sky could be the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are three minutes from the winner. And now we know that if we will potentially win a grand tour one of these days, we need to close a minimum of three to four minutes,\u201d Bogaerts said this weekend. \u201cI think that\u2019s an achievable gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only the Vuelta, but it\u2019s a step in the right direction for Tom with the numbers he was doing. I think his body got a signal that it can recover during stages,\u201d the Belgian told The Cycling Podcast.<\/p>\n

Applying hard lessons from the Giro onto the Vuelta<\/p>\n

Nobody rated Pidcock for the podium ahead of this Vuelta.<\/p>\n

A career-best 13th overall at the Tour de France in 2023 and an uncharacteristically anonymous ride this May at the Giro d\u2019Italia didn\u2019t promise much.<\/p>\n

Bogaerts revealed to The Cycling Podcast how Pidcock\u2019s newfound capacity on long climbs and three-week durability came from tough lessons learned at the Giro.<\/p>\n

He went into the corsa rosa cooked from the classics and came out of it burned in 16th overall.<\/p>\n

Unlike every other grand tour in his career, Pidcock started the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a last month free of fatigue from previous racing or the distraction of future goals.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old saw only five days of road racing between his 2025 grand tours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had more time for thorough preparation this time, with an altitude camp and the Arctic Race of Norway,\u201d Pidcock said last month before the Vuelta\u2019s gran salida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m curious to see what I can do in the general classification.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepping up to the Tour de France
\n\"Pidcock\"Pidcock and Q36.5 Pro Cycling have long-term Tour de France goals. (Photo: Dario Belingheri\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Bogaerts might have cracked the GC code for Pidcock.<\/p>\n

The fast-twitch MTB champion hung with Vingegaard, Almeida, and Sepp Kuss on the Vuelta\u2019s hardest climbs<\/a> and delivered \u201cthe best time trial of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite all that, he still could have won stage 11\u2019s neutralized mini-classic around Bilbao.<\/p>\n

But Pidcock and Bogaerts are realistic.<\/p>\n

The Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a is not the Tour de France.<\/p>\n

Bogaerts indicated Le Tour is his rising team\u2019s big goal, but accepted that Pidcock won\u2019t be bothering Pogi, Remco, and a fully healthy Jonas any time soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we need to go next year to try to win it, or only to go for the podium,\u201d Bogaerts said of the Tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we try to copy this and analyze this event in detail. What can we do better? And what do we do well already?<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s make it achievable, the progression,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd you also need to know that the opposition will progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q36.5 Pro Cycling all in on \u2018Project Pidcock\u2019
\n\"\"Pidcock brought Q36.5 MTB World Cup victory in July at Pas Arinsal. (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)<\/p>\n

Q36.5 Pro Cycling has all the potential to see that progression with Pidcock.<\/p>\n

Bogaert and his athelete learned what works.<\/p>\n

And Q36.5\u2019s billionaire owner Ivan Glasenberg is all-in on reaping the rewards<\/a> from his team\u2019s new talisman.<\/p>\n

The arrival of Eddie Dunbar, Chris Hamilton, and Xandro Meurisse in 2026 will bring the Brit a new mountain train. The signing of Fred Wright and Quinten Hermans means he\u2019ll see strong support in the spring.<\/p>\n

Pinarello is expected to join Q36.5 Pro Cycling as bike sponsor too, not that Pidcock has been held back by racing road on a Scott.<\/p>\n

But while Pidcock will see all the support he could wish for in 2026, he can\u2019t have it all.<\/p>\n

There will have to be compromise between cyclocross, MTB, and the road.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not yet revealed his short-term cyclocross intentions, but if last year is anything to go by, Pidcock won\u2019t see too much mud this winter. The 26-year-old might be getting tanned at thin air instead.<\/p>\n

Ambitions in the Ardennes also might need a rethink if Q36.5 \u2013 a team still reliant on wildcard invites \u2013 gets the call for the Giro or Tour.<\/p>\n

\u2018If he puts his mind towards something, he doesn\u2019t fail much\u2019
\n\"\"Pidcock was the one rider who could hang with Poga\u010dar at Strade Bianche \u2013 could he convert that to the Tour de France? (Photo: Gruber Images \/ Velo)<\/p>\n

Grand tour racing will likely be center of Pidcock\u2019s universe for the next two years while he\u2019s with Q36.5 Pro Cycling.<\/p>\n

Bogaerts hinted that his athlete\u2019s increased maturity and sheer bloody-mindedness make a podium repeat a possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he puts his mind towards something, he doesn\u2019t fail much,\u201d he told The Cycling Podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cGC Pidcock\u201d hype has been gathering speed ever since he burst onto the road scene at the 2020 \u201cBaby Giro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five years later, he delivered at the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

His biggest problem now might be figuring out how CX, MTB, and the classics fit in to any grand tour identity.<\/p>\n