Free-spirited Pidcock lacks the flexibility that Van Aert and Van der Poel can muster in 2024
The names are slowly being released. Information is trickling in. One thing is certain: the Tour de France team selection for INEOS Grenadiers at the end of June will be exceptionally strong. Two former winners, Egan Bernal and Geraint Thomas, hope to be there, and it's highly likely they'll both be working for a young Spaniard, who is gradually emerging as the British team's strongest GC contender. Carlos Rodriguez impressed in the Dauphiné with a stage win and seems set to peak in La Grande Boucle. This Tour setup might be a grim sign for Tom Pidcock, the all-rounder who heads to France seemingly driven by his own grand ambitions.
The bombastic and sometimes overly dramatic series Tour de France: Unchained reveals an interesting development around Pidcock. In the 2022 edition, he was supposed to work for Thomas, who was battling for a podium in Paris. The then 22-year-old Pidcock, competing in his first Tour, an Olympic champion in mountain biking and a world champion in cyclo-cross, was initially in a support role but on the twelfth day, he had the opportunity to race for his own glory on the climb to Alpe d’Huez. Unaware of what lay ahead, he swiftly sped through the Alps, amused the team management, and soloed to an unchallenged stage victory. An unprecedented Tour debut, a hallmark of a freewheeler in his element.
In 2023, things seemed more strained. Pidcock had higher ambitions and aimed for a GC position. A bad day over the Joux Plane dashed those plans, with Rodriguez at that point becoming the focal point for the GC. The Spaniard won the descent stage, precisely Pidcock’s specialty, ahead of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. The Brit, according to Netflix footage, felt unsupported, turned against his Spanish teammate, and finished the Tour without flair. Recently, Pidcock also uttered sharp words ahead of the 2024 Tour. No one dictates how he should ride his Tour. He focuses solely on himself and harbors his own ambitions for a strong GC finish. Looks like it might be a lonely July for the born cyclo-cross racer.
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Pidcock won a Tour stage in 2022
Misunderstood heading towards the Tour: Tom Pidcock increasingly distances himself from INEOS Grenadiers' yellow jersey ambitions
INEOS has one mission: to bridge the gap to the Pogacar-Vingegaard teams. That chance is proven greatest with Rodriguez, the 23-year-old Spaniard who is rapidly developing as a grand tour racer. A progression that Pidcock also pursues and vocally aims for. A top-five finish in the Tour, and ideally the podium. These are the desires of a rider who has yet to finish in the top ten of any grand tour. A rider who competes in a mountain bike race just before the Tour. A rider who ideally wants the support of two former Tour winners and a designated leader who finished fifth last year. Pidcock, with his versatile ambitions and corresponding tone, positions himself outside the methodical approach that INEOS is taking on the path back to the top.
The British team has lacked a true GC leader for some years now. A leader the likes of Pogacar-Vingegaard-Roglic-Evenepoel. Particularly given the plethora of sub-top contenders, the team needs a solid plan: to enter the fray with multiple options and decide along the way who the explicit leader will be. Anything else is beyond the redshirts. Rodriguez, as well as Bernal, Thomas, Pidcock and perhaps even Laurens De Plus – they will all need to embrace this approach. An approach that is structurally and implicitly at odds with Pidcock's vision. An approach that, for example, Bernal has already accepted.
Pidcock, without the proven palmarès of a top contender in grand tours, appears to function as a lone cell in a team striving to regain control of stage racing. As an all-rounder, a world leader in mountain biking, cyclo-cross, and on the road, he fits perfectly into the cycling world of 2024, where Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert also thrive as all-rounders. Yet, Pidcock currently lacks the flexibility demonstrated by Van der Poel and Van Aert. Assisting other top riders, adhering to team orders, waiting for his own chance to shine. Consider Van Aert's role in Vingegaard's 2022 Tour victory, or Van der Poel's lead-outs for Jasper Philipsen in the 2023 Tour. Pidcock seems to lack the patience for it. In the long run, this is a fruitless attitude in a team that aims, as a collective, to return to the days of Chris Froome.
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Tom Pidcock might be better off seeking a leadership role in a stage-hunting team
Unless Pidcock surprises us immensely in July, a change of his status within INEOS seems unlikely. Pidcock combines the three disciplines quite perfectly, tends to prioritize his own ambitions, and he also shows a bit of stubbornness. A mountain bike competition just before the Tour? No problem. His free spirit will likely benefit from it, but his grand tour form typically will not. The realization that top preparation and a strong team are necessary even to harbor hopes for a top GC finish remains overlooked. The language Pidcock uses leading up to the Tour tells the world he prefers to handle everything himself. In this sense, Pidcock might be better off looking for a free role in a stage-hunting team.
Perhaps an eventual departure from INEOS is inevitable for Pidcock, even though he is the face of the team in 2024. Is there enough room at INEOS for him to be the rider he wants to be? Top teams treat the greatest riders with proper regard once they have proven themselves as such. But the Olympic mountain biking champion has not yet earned that status on the road. And just for that reason, the interaction between employer and employee is becoming increasingly more complex. While INEOS stoically continues working on the bigger picture, Pidcock is off in his own world, drifting away from reality.
And yet, Pidcock as a cyclist would undoubtedly become stronger and gain more freedom and appreciation by conforming to that bigger picture.