“He is a contender now” – Thomas and Rowe sing Tom Pidcock’s praises after Vuelta a Espana podium

Tom Pidcock announced himself as a Grand Tour rider at the 2025 Vuelta a España, stepping onto the podium behind Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida. For the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, and for Pidcock who has long thrived off-road but never lived up to expectations on the tarmac, the result was a landmark achievement for him. For Pidcock himself, it was proof that he could not only survive three weeks but also compete with the best climbers and time triallists in the world.

On the Watts Occurring podcast, Luke Rowe and newly retired Geraint Thomas reflected on the performance, what it meant for British cycling, and what might come next.

“One of the biggest talking points of this Vuelta is the performance from Pidcock,” began Rowe. The two INEOS legends, Thomas with a Tour de France title to his name, Rowe with years as a road captain. admitted they didn’t see it coming. “No. If we rewind back to January and you say Pidcock will finish on the podium in the Grand Tour, no, I didn’t, to be honest.”

Thomas, who has lived the grind of three-week racing, contrasted Pidcock’s podium with his struggles earlier in the year at the Giro. “He did focus on GC… he finished 16th in GC, 44 minutes down… and then just as a team to then step into the Giro, finish on the podium at three minutes from Vingegaard.” The shift in just a few months was dramatic, and the gap to the Dane was close enough to matter. “Three minutes from Vingegaard, you know, right there in the mix.”

Rowe described the decisive climb of Stage 20 with a racer’s eye: “He just kept coming back onto the wheel and you’re thinking, oh maybe he might, and then he lost the wheel again… then he comes back.” It was resilience in action, measured efforts rather than implosions. The steadiness was new, and it earned Pidcock the podium.

“He basically did it himself, I think he was on his own a lot of the time.” Without a stacked mountain train from his team, he held position, survived attacks, and managed his energy. For Rowe and Thomas, that was as telling as the result itself. “Even if they didn’t get the stage win they wanted, they still had the balls to take it on.”

The reward wasn’t just for the rider, but for the team’s wider project. “They really needed that Vuelta.” And for Pidcock himself, the significance was clear. “There’s no beating about the bush anymore. Like it’s just like, this is it. Go for it, isn’t it? Like don’t forget about everything else now.”

“He is a contender now.”

Pidcock’s podium came just months after Oscar Onley finished fourth in the Tour de France. For a nation that has been defined for more than a decade by Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome, and Thomas, this sudden emergence of new contenders changes the picture.

Onley’s fourth in July and Pidcock’s third in September mean Britain once again has riders capable of contesting podiums in three-week races. Given the 2020s have been quiet for British GC riders compared to the 2010s, the last three months have been a sign that things will change again.

The natural question was whether Pidcock could repeat the feat in July. “Do you see him as a Tour de France podium contender?” Thomas asked. “No, I mean I’d love to say yes,” Rowe began “I would love nothing more than him to succeed, but I think to go to the Tour, I mean next year, no. In the future, why not?”

Thomas, too, gave a verdict of measured optimism. “Heart says yes. Head says no.” Rowe added: “I would say no, but I don’t think he’d be far off.”

Both agreed that the direction of travel is right. “It is a strengthened team. It is a process. You know, it is an evolving team.” Pidcock, at 26, is no longer a prospect but a rider entering his prime. “He’s not a spring chicken anymore, is he? Like you said, now it’s game time.”

The practical hurdle is even getting to the Tour. “It’s not often you see a wildcard team podium by the end of it, is it,” Rowe said. “When it comes to the Tour next year, they obviously have to rely on a wildcard… it will be one of three wildcard teams. Tough to get in.” But he acknowledged that Pidcock’s podium might change things. “After that podium in the Vuelta, and you know, having the name Tom Pidcock there, it’s good for the race. Wouldn’t be surprised if they did get the Tour wildcard.”

The podcast spent as much time talking about the broader hierarchy as it did Pidcock. “Vingegaard showed him (Almeida0 who was boss.” Rowe’s memory of the Stage 20 finale was clear: “Jonas kind of, yeah, put his foot down in the final, shot off and won the stage.”

Thomas, who has faced them both, was categorical. “He’s just currently the second-best Grand Tour rider, the second-best Grand Tour rider of the generation.” And then came the boldest line: “If Pogi was never born, he’d be the absolute GOAT, win everything, all those second places would be first places.”

The dominance of Pogacar and Vingegaard defines the era. “Any race that Pogi’s there, it’s going to be hard to beat him at the moment.” For Vingegaard, Rowe and Thomas argued, there is little to gain. “He can only, in that situation, really lose, because you’re expected to win.” Which is why his margins don’t matter. “At the end of the day, who cares, isn’t it? He’s got his thing. He doesn’t need to win by 10 as long as he wins.”

For Pidcock and Onley, this is the mountain they must climb, not just Alps or Pyrenees, but an era of dominance by two generational riders.

Then the podcast moved on to the darker, and most dominant theme of the three weeks in Spain: the protests. Stage 21 in Madrid never happened. Protests halted the race, and the peloton ended its three weeks in a car park, with podium boxes improvised out of coolers. Thomas and Rowe captured the strangeness. “Stage 21 of the Vuelta. What a mess.”

“Unique though, I guess… it’ll always be remembered for having a podium in the car park on boxes or something, won’t it?” Rowe added. What looked comic was in fact an improvised solution. “Talk about making the best of a bad situation.”

For riders, there was relief in at least marking the achievement. “Little silver lining. They cracked on and had a great ceremony in the car park.” And for Vingegaard, who won, Thomas underlined the principle: “He deserves at least a podium ceremony at the end of a race to celebrate.”

The context was darker. Protests had already shortened or neutralised multiple stages, and Madrid became the final straw. The Vuelta podium didn’t cheapen Pidcock’s ride; it reinforced the fragility of a sport raced on open roads, vulnerable to forces larger than itself. This will certainly continue to be a problem heading into 2026, particularly with the Tour set to start in Barcelona.

Rowe and Thomas used the Vuelta to dissect UAE’s approach, particularly their stage hunting and lack of commitment to Joao Almeida’s GC. “Could UAE have ridden that better, like could they have pushed Jonas more?” Thomas doubted the cohesion. “I’m not sure. It’s one big cohesive unit there.”

He wondered if the team had missed a chance in the second week. “From what I understand, the second week Jonas didn’t look great… and you kind of think, God, if all those boys just really went all in behind Almeida… it just seemed like they almost accepted that Jonas, they couldn’t really do a lot.”

The frustration came from Almeida’s body of work. “Every Grand Tour he’s finished… fourth, sixth, fourth, third, ninth, fourth, second.” For Thomas, the numbers demand backing. “There’s more than one way to skin a cat, isn’t there. But I just feel like Al is someone that deserves the full backing.”

Amid the analysis, Rowe and Thomas also spoke about who Pidcock is behind the result. “He’s a guy who likes to work in quite a small group of people he really likes, trusts, and loves.” For a rider stepping into GC leadership having moved from the huge set up of INEOS, that personality trait matters. It shapes how teams are built around him, how support riders buy into the plan, and how pressure is managed. So far, it seems Pidcock has made the right move in joining Q36.5.

Pidcock’s podium at the Vuelta was not an accident or a one-off. It was the result of consistency, measured racing, and an evolution in both his engine and his mindset. Rowe and Thomas did not baptise him as a Tour favourite, but they did place him among the riders who matter when the road tilts up. For now, Pidcock has at the very least proven his GC credentials.

In British cycling, the timing is crucial. With Thomas retired, Onley and Pidcock provide two new avenues into GC relevance. The road ahead is brutal: Pogacar and Vingegaard are not fading, and Almeida, Remco, and others remain in the mix. But the podium in Spain changes the question. It is no longer whether Pidcock can survive three weeks, it is how far he can go.

As Thomas put it best: “He is a contender now.”