His performance was all the more remarkable because he did it as the leader of the second-level Pro team Q36.5 Pro Cycling and was usually unsupported on those steep Vuelta ascents. And at age 26 he still has time and space to improve, as does his team. The team to be known as Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling next year has staked its future on Pidcock, and vice versa, and based on just that one race and on the team’s ambition, it appears that their futures look bright.
The Vuelta performance, Pidcock told Cyclingnews, “definitely marked a turning point, that’s for sure. Before, I didn’t enjoy Grand Tours, it was not so much fun. So it [the podium finish] is definitely something that has changed that perspective and showed me I can achieve what people closest to me believe I can and my team believes I can. It’s a relief, almost – a weight off my shoulders.” It also marked Pidcock’s transition from a multi-discipline rider with an off-road focus to a Grand Tour road racer who may also occasionally ride cyclocross and MTB.
His coach, team sports director Kurt Bogaerts, gave a series of interviews after the Vuelta that pretty much mapped out Pidecock’s near-term cycling future. He began by seconding the importance of the Vuelta podium to his rider’s career, telling Wielerflits that “it was the first time he felt he could compete with the best climbers in the world, and that he could potentially break away from them. In the stage to Bilbao, he dropped Jonas Vingegaard on the climb. That in itself was quite unique and a positive sign for the future.”
But Bogaerts tried to be realistic about 2026 and the team’s and Pidcock’s goals. After saying that going for a Tour podium in 2026 was a “dangerous ambition,” he explained: “I think Tom is someone who needs time to build his career. A bit like Geraint Thomas did. He started out riding a lot on the track, then switched to the Classics, and only very late made the transition to the Grand Tour. At 32, he won the Tour.”
And there are Pidcock’s other objectives to contend with, which include both Grand Tours and Classics. “Not only the Tour, but also the Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, and Milan-San Remo appeal to him,” Bogaerts said. “Tom mainly needs to focus on what he wants. We haven’t won a Monument yet, and that’s a goal in itself. But you can’t want everything at once.”
Pidcock will be better armed in 2026 as top bike manufacturer Pinarello is joining the team as a co-title sponsor for next season, which means that Pidcock will ride Pinarello bikes exclusively across all disciplines. In addition, the team had a successful transfer season, signing the excellent climbers Eddie Dunbar and Chris Harper from Jayco AlUla, the talented all-rounder Fred Wright from Bahrain-Victorious and the veteran sprinter George Bennett from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.
These moves were intended not only to provide Pidcock with more support on the road and in the mountains, but also because Pinarello–Q36.5 Pro Cycling will be hunting points in an effort to be promoted to WorldTour status in 2028. “The team made a big step forward last year, and we’re now in a position where we should get all the [wildcard] invites in 2026,” Bogaerts told Velo. “So it’s not like we need to wait until the last moment [before we know if we can ride in a race]. We have security in the race program. We just need to figure out the right program that considers Tom could do the Tour again.”
For next year’s Tour, the team will again take a cautious approach. “We need to approach the Tour in the same way as we did the Vuelta,” Bogaerts said. “The Vuelta was one race where the GC went really well, but I don’t think it should be a general focus in the future for him.”
Bogaerts wants to see a step-by-step approach to an eventual Tour de France success. “I think the first goal should be to get a stage win again in the Tour and then see how the race develops,” he said. “I think a top 10, like we targeted this year in Spain, should be good in combination with a stage win. We only started to race for the podium late in the Vuelta after we saw that it could be possible.”
Bogaerts also noted in the Velo interview that road racing will be Pidcock’s primary focus. “His mountain bike and cyclocross goals used a lot of his mental capacity before,” he said. “But now he’s achieved so many of [those goals], he has a new hunger to try something different. He has new energy for giving the maximum on the road.”
It will be exciting to follow Pidcock in 2026 as he measures himself against the best riders in the world with new confidence, a new bike and an improved team.
