16/10/2024

ANALYSIS: 3 compelling reasons why Visma should definitely sign Tom Pidcock

Team Visma | Lease a Bike is one of the teams interested in Tom Pidcock with it seeming more and more certain that he will leave INEOS Grenadiers because of the bad feeling between rider and team. However, as of today, transfer talks seems more strongly surrounding a move to the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team.

Thus, Visma is reportedly circling the Olympic mountain bike champion, but has not made any proposal or sat down with his representative. If this is true, it is a serious mistake by a Dutch team that can not play in 2025 to the same tricks as in 2024 beyond the bad luck that we assume will not be with them again. Here, our colleagues at Ciclismoalida give you 3 reasons why Visma should not let Pidcock go if he ends up leaving INEOS:

"Sir Jim Ratcliffe is fed up with his toy" - Johan Bruyneel doubts future of INEOS Grenadiers amidst Tom Pidcock debacle

1. Winning a Monument

In recent years the structure of the current Team Visma | Lease a Bike has won absolutely everything except one of cycling's Monuments (they haven't won one since that Liège 2020 in which Alaphilippe raised his arms too early and Roglic ended up pinching his pocket). That same year, Wout van Aert won the Milano-Sanremo and an explosion was expected on his part thereafter. Sadly however, there has been nothing more from the Belgian superstar.

2. Replacing the absence of Primoz Roglic

With a superstar rider like Primoz Roglic leaving at the end of 2023 and it would be a fantastic opportunity to get another one of the best in the world back in your ranks. Obviously with Pidcock, you're not going to win the same kind of races as with Roglic, but you'll get to expand your number of potential winners, so that things like 2024 won't happen again if Vingegaard and Van Aert get injured.

3. Help Wout van Aert

As we mentioned before, Wout van Aert has not won a Monument since 2020. Everything has happened: he has focused on the Tour to help Vingo, he has fallen, he has not known how to manage the end of the race and in the middle have emerged Pogacar, Van der Poel and even a Philipsen who takes advantage of riding with VDP and its tremendous quality to also take victory. This possible Van Aert-Pidcock duo would make Visma much more dangerous and the Belgian would surely have more chances to increase the list of monuments in his palmares;