Everything about Tom Pidcock

Who is Tom Pidcock?

Tom Pidcock is a professional cyclist for INEOS Grenadiers and one of the most versatile riders in the whole sport. Pidcock is a national champion on the Track, World Champion in Cyclocross, Olympic (two-times) and World Champion in Mountain Biking and Tour de France stage winner on the road all by the time he was only 24 years of age.

Name: Tom Pidcock
Birthday: 30 July 1999
Birthplace: Leeds, Great Britain
Turned Pro: 2018
Height: 1.70m

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Tom Pidcock on the podium at the Amstel Gold Race

Tom Pidcock was born on the 30th of July 1999 in Great Britain. More specifically, the English city of Leeds, and he has evolved into one of the most unique cyclists on the planet and simultaneously one of the most successful, taking several titles in several different disciplines of the sport.

Pidcock has a long-standing contract with INEOS Grenadiers, one of the longest and wealthiest in pro cycling, lasting all the way into the 2027 season, where he earns a reported €4 million euros per year. Despite his deal on the road with Pinarello, in MTB he is said to ride the BMC Fourstroke, whilst in Cyclocross he currently races the Pinarello Crossista F. On the road he typically rides a Pinarello Dogma F12, the team's most frequent option. His girlfriend is Bethany Louise Zajac with whom he lives with in Yorkshire and also Andorra. 

Pidcock has taken a title as a Junior on the Track, taking the Scratch Race national championships in 2017. This was the least reputable of the results he's gotten over three other disciplines. In Mountain Biking he began testing the water in 2019, where he got the XCO national title in the under-23 category. In 2020 he's won the Elite World Championships on the E-MTB category, and had a big season in the discipline where he's won the under-23 World Championships on XCO, alongside the World Cup and two wins on it.

It was all part of a plan he had towards the Olympic Games. Pidcock had taken a very small direct preparation towards Tokyo, however with a win on the Nové Mesto World Cup race, but has taken a dominant win in the XCO event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, perhaps the biggest title of his career. In 2022 he's kept up his good reputation, winning two XCO World Cup rounds in Albstadt and Nové Mesto, and the European Championships in XCO aswell, effectively consolidating his status as a top rider, despite his rare appearances.

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It was in Cyclocross however that Pidcock first broke through into the spotlight. In the 2016-2017 season, his final year as a junior, Pidcock was the dominant figure of the field. He won 12 out of his 13 appearances, and included in those wins were both European and World Championships, the latter taking place in Bieles where he beat compatriots Daniel Tulett and Ben Turner. In 2017-2018 with Telenet-Fidea Lions he raced an almost complete under-23 calendar, winning the World Cup by conquering all 5 (out of 7) races he took part in. Pidcock struggled in the Europeans and Worlds, but won 11 out of 19 races.

In the 2018-2019 season, now with Trinity Racing, he raced a full winter. That year Pidcock won both World Cup and Superprestige cup in the under-23 ranks. He's also won the European Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch and the World Championships in Bogense. He won 7 out of 8 under-23 events he took part in, but more than half of his calendar was raced at Elite level as he began to take the taste of the competition he'd be soon facing. He directly beat Eli Iserbyt - currently one of the most dominant figures in the discipline - directly on several occasions and became Elite national champion.

The 2019-2020 was his first full Elite season. The Superprestige Cup had it's own standings for the under-23 riders in which he won, but besides that the national championships were his only victory of the season. Pidcock was however consistent and strong, scoring a whole 11 podiums throughout the whole season where he fully focused on the off-road. 2020-2021 saw a different Pidcock, with a calendar only starting at the end of November as he was at this time focused on the road and MTB. He took his first Elite international win at Gavere, and throughout the rest of the season battled with the likes of Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel and Eli Iserbyt to gather several podium results.

2021-2022 was another reduced season with it's start only in the beginning of December, but a much more successful one. A very successful year in fact, as in his third race he took his first Elite World Cup win in Rucphen, repeated the feat later in Hulst - now racing with the INEOS Grenadiers equipment, and went on to take the Elite World Championships. In the absence of van der Poel and van Aert, Pidcock was the strongest in the dry and fast Fayetteville circuit, where he beat Lars van der Haar and Eli Iserbyt to the gold medal.

Tom Pidcock

On the road, Pidcock was since his final junior year a talent to take into consideration at international level. That year he's won several races, including the junior's Paris-Roubaix and the time-trial World Championships. In 2018 he turned pro with Team Wiggins, where he raced as an under-23 rider, failing to take his first pro win on the road, but impressing elsewhere. In 2019 the situation changed however, with a win at the under-23 Paris-Roubaix, the GC win at the Tour Alsace where he won a stage, and a win at Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux. He finished the season with a third place in the under-23 World Championships at home in Yorkshire.

He had proven his talent in cyclocross, mountain biking, time-trials and cobbled classics, and in 2020 his short calendar on the road with Trinity Racing saw him dominantly win the under-23 Giro d'Italia, with a a total of three stage wins. After the end of the 2020-2021 cyclocross season, Pidcock was announced as a new signing for INEOS Grenadiers, which he would represent on all disciplines. The British team went after one of the country's brightest talents in a collaboration that was to very quickly function well.

2021 saw him quickly achieve strong results, with a 3rd place at Kuurne - Bruxels - Kuurne and a 5th at Strade Bianche quickly revealing his talent at Elite level. Pidcock needed only a matter of months to take his first big pro win, which came at De Brabantse Pijl in April, where he beat Wout van Aert and Matteo in the final sprint after an explosive race. The very same week van Aert would beat Pidcock at Amstel Gold Race, a finale which not even the photo-finish convinces 100% until this day. A 6th place at Flèche Wallone concluded his spring.

Throughout the summer he became Olympic MTB champion, and then returned to the road to make his Grand Tour debut at the Vuelta a Espana, where he largely rode in support of Egan Bernal and Adam Yates, without achieving any meaningful result. There however, he built the form towards the World Championships in Leuven, where he rode into a strong 6th place.

In 2022 the spring classics were a big goal, but Pidcock had a more modest campaign, with a 3rd spot at Dwars door Vlaanderen and a 5th at Brabantse Pijl as his main results. The Tour de France debut was on the map however, and he was at the start in Copenhagen. Pidcock rode in support for Geraint Thomas, riding himself into a 16th spot (and 2nd in the youth classification) at the end, but most importantly taking his first Grand Tour win in none other than the mythical Alpe d'Huez, where he benefitted off the day's breakaway to beat Louis Meintjes. Pidcock concluded his season with a 2nd place at the Tour of Britain. 

In the cyclocross winter he won in Kortrijk and Boom, however he didn't manage to grab more wins due to the presence of Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert. He ultimately did not race the World Championships. With the Olympics coming near Pidcock put in a lot of effort into the Mountain Bike season in 2023. He raced several World Cups, winning in Nove Mesto and Mont-Sainte-Anne, but most importantly became World Champion in Glasgow with a tremendous performance. Still, he had space to also impress on the road, winning Strade Bianche early in the season with a strong solo attack. He also finished on the podium of Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He experimented going for the overall classification at the Tour de France and put on very strong climbing performances until stage 13 which had him inside the Top10. However he suffered from fatigue afterwards, ending the race in 13th spot.

Tom Pidcock in 2024

Tom Pidcock started his 2024 cycling season with clear goals in mind, focusing on both the spring classics and the Tour de France, as well as the Olympic Games. A crowded schedule, but everything was possible for the talented Briton. He was eighth at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, third at Strade Bianche and ninth at Tirreno-Adriatico showing good form before aiming for the spring classics. He had an inconsistent run, but one that included a strong victory at Amstel Gold Race. He also finished 10th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège before taking a break. Pidcock won a MTB event in Nové Mesto. He then switched to the road once again where he rode to a sixth place at the Tour de Suisse and only days before starting the Tour de France he won the MTB Crans-Montana World Cup

Tour de France

The 2024 Tour de France was undoubtedly a big goal in Pidcock’s season. His objective was to fight for the overall classification, but he soon admitted it was not possible due to the team's lineup and his own preparation. It ended up being a very anti-climatic race for him, abandoning on stage 14 due to a Covid-19 infection, only having to his name a second place in the famous gravel stage.

Tom Pidcock winning the 2024 Olympic Games MTB race. @Imago

Olympic Games in Paris

However that did not stop him. Pidcock's main specialty in the off-road was again quite visible. Despite a rocky preparation for the race, he won in Paris the most important event of his season ahead of Victor Koretzky, renewing his Olympic title. Then, on the road, he was 13th in the road race, finishing right behind Mathieu van der Poel.