STAR RIDER TOM PIDCOCK
Age: 24 | 2023 Tour result: 13th on GC and two top-five finishes 2024 highlights: Winning Amstel Gold | Strength: Good over all terrain Weakness: Lack of stage racing focus this year Entertainment rating ★★★★★
Whether or not the prodigiously talented Tom Pidcock will mature into a Grand Tour contender is the question on the minds of many British fans. He has won atop Alpe d’huez, he’s won over the cobbles of Paris Roubaix (as an under-23 rider), he’s a cyclo-cross world champion, a mountain bike world and Olympic champion and as a junior, he won titles on the track.
Late last year he hinted that 2024 would be the year he tries to answer the GC question. Perhaps not with a win, or even a podium finish, but by seeing how his mind and body respond to the 24/7 demands of a focused three-week campaign. He has since rowed back on that, however. Following a spring campaign where he didn’t hit all his targets he has now decided to focus solely on defending his Olympic mtb title in Paris.
The mountain bike race takes place on 29 July, seven days after the Tour finishes, so Pidcock should be arriving at peak form, but a lack of stage racing this year - he’s ridden just three - will work against him.
Having said that, a sixth place at the recent Tour de Suisse is further proof of how capable he is. The chances are he’ll be eyeing a stage win in France, but deeper in the race if team-mate and likely GC lead, Rodríguez finds himself riding high, Pidcock might have to slot into the role of super domestique and sacrifice his position on GC.