<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he couldn\u2019t do that in other teams. He didn\u2019t have that kind of freedom and trust, and those two things are important for Tom,” Ryder stated. This was ultimately the case with INEOS, where in the Grand Tours the plans were often to work towards a fixed GC leader and work around the ‘mountain train’ tactics.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, mixing his ambitions on the road with cyclocross and mountain biking would add further strain as the team prioritized in all levels the road. “On this team, he\u2019s been able to exercise that freedom and that responsibility that we\u2019ve given him, and he\u2019s embraced it wholeheartedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
A completely different team<\/p>\n
Pidcock has an astonishing season and that has in return benefitted the Swiss team greatly. \u201cAttracting a rider like Tom Pidcock to our team was an absolute gift, because he took a calculated risk to come to us. Obviously, we had been a World Tour team [as Qhubeka], but it was still a risk, and he took a decision that would be decisive for his career.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a strong leader and World Tour-level structure, not even quality World Tour leaders were afraid to make the jump. The transfer market proved to be incredibly successful with the addition of Sam Bennett, Eddie Dunbar, Chris Harper, Fred Wright, Brent van Moer, Tom Gloag, Quinten Hermans and more…<\/p>\n
Suddenly, the team were a highly attractive option, and is now on a level above that of several World Tour structures, one can argue. \u201cGone are the days where we have to knock on doors. Now there are lots of riders contacting us to see if there\u2019s an opportunity with us, which is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tour de France the obvious decision<\/p>\n
The team has also scored enough UCI points to have an automatic wildcard to all World Tour races, a very different challenge to what had been the case previously. \u201cIt was a difficult season to plan, and I think his GC at the Giro was probably compromised by having to race so much in the early part of the season to get a wildcard. But then at the Vuelta, he\u2019s obviously shown that he is a three-week rider when he puts his mind to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pidcock will have a packed spring including Omloop het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche, Milano-Torino, Milano-Sanremo, the Volta a Catalunya and all four Ardennes classics. Then he will follow the preparation towards the Tour de France, which he hasn’t raced since 2024. After last year’s Giro proved to be unsuccessful due to the equally busy calendar, the decision to race the Grand Boucle was obvious.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tour is the Tour, so if he can take chances early and win a stage, then he will do that. What I love about Tom is that the one thing he doesn\u2019t ever want to hear in a team briefing is \u2018our objective is to not lose time.\u2019 Tom wants us to race, and if you look at the Vuelta, we raced every single day”. Hence, the French race can expect another team to try and explode the field.<\/p>\n
The main goal will be a stage win, but with the GC also in mind, as was the case in the Vuelta. \u201cFor the Tour, the GC aspiration is in the plan, of course, but it\u2019s not the sole focus. Tom likes to win, and we saw that in the Vuelta. If there\u2019s a stage that suits him, he\u2019s going to go for it. And, of course, if he survives and can still do a really good GC then, of course, he\u2019ll go for that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the Vuelta, we said top 10 was a goal and top five was the dream, and we ended up on the podium which just blew out all our minds,” he argued. “So for the Tour, let\u2019s see what happens. We\u2019ll take our chances where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cI think he couldn\u2019t do that in other teams. He didn\u2019t have that kind of freedom and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":789692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,229780,216237,79,16153,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-789691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-doug-ryder","10":"tag-pinarello-q36-5-pro-cycling-team","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tom-pidcock","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116135543803177606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}