How Tom Pidcock's mother and Visma staff put together Jonas Vingegaard's La Vuelta celebration - "All I wanted to do was to applaud and give my son a hug"

The 2025 Vuelta a España ended not in Madrid, but in its outskirts, as the peloton could not reach the capital after 21 days of roller-coaster racing. Protests against Israel - Premier Tech and the race organizers marked the race, and the final stage had to be cancelled after protestors destroyed the course, making it impossible to host the final podium ceremony. That led way to what is perhaps the most odd ceremony in Grand Tour history, hosted at the Team Visma | Lease a Bike hotel... Incentivized by Tom Pidcock's mother.

After the peloton was stopped in its tracks, it was unclear what would happen afterwards. Stage 21 never really got off to its start, and the finale was as anti-climatic as one could expect. As TV broadcasts around the world ended, the peloton ended the final Grand Tour of the season not in the streets of the Spanish capital, but in their team cars heading back to their hotels. It was a moment of sadness for most, who raced for three weeks only to miss out on a much earned celebration to end their race. But amongst the displeased voices were calls for action.

“I said to Ivan (Glasenberg, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team owner, ed.) ‘this isn’t fair, these young men have put all this effort in and have been robbed of their glory'. I told him we should organize a podium," Tom Pidcock's mother Sonja shared with CyclingWeekly, who put the pieces together on how that memorable moment came together. The Briton battled his way into a maiden Grand Tour podium, and if he hadn't, perhaps none of these events would've seen the light of day. That first idea led to a chain of events that ultimately culminated in the makeshift ceremony.

Glasenberg came in contact with Team Visma | Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge, and within minutes contacts began through several teams. Lidl-Trek, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, UAE Team Emirates - XRG and Israel - Premier Tech were all to some degree involved, as their riders had officially earned their place on the podium.

Visma was at the head of affairs and Jasper Saejis, business officer in the Dutch team, was in charge of the logistics behind most of the process. “I said, if we do this, we have to do it right. We were never going to have the same quality as the real celebration, but everyone who had made the Vuelta special deserved some kind of celebration. Jonas [Vigegaard] was already in his normal clothes, and I told him he had to change into his cycling clothing and prepare for a ceremony.”

There was no TV on sight and only a few media outlets present to witness the unique events that then played out - which were also kept rather private, as Matthew Riccitello of Israel - Premier Tech would be present, and the protestors were actively seeking out to disrupt the team's actions.

Eventually the get-together at Visma's hotel saw a representative from the race arrive with the trophies, and a makeshift podium ceremony visual was arranged on location, taking place at night already.

In Visma's Vuelta documentary it is possible to see a lot of footage from that event, and how it turned out to be quite special. But it is undeniable how the end to the Vuelta left many upset, including Jonas Vingegaard who believed he would have no celebration at the time of events.

He described it in a recent interview: "In the end, I think it's fair to say that was also a historic celebration. But obviously, it was also a disgrace for cycling what happened. I also remember a few question marks hanging over everyone's heads when we got back to the hotel because it wasn't very clear what was going to happen. I sat at the back of the bus and stayed there for a while".

In the end Sonja Pidcock was highly regarded as the main figure behind this ceremony, as she played a key role in organizing it as well as providing the initial idea. She believes Jonas Vingegaard was also aware of that at a certain point: “I’d never met Jonas before, but when he got off the Visma bus in his kit, he was looking across the car park smiling at me," she recalls. "I pointed him out to Giles, and I realised that Jonas was probably the only mum-minded person there. Richard must have told him that it was Tom’s mum’s idea and he was saying thank you to me. It was really lovely, really sweet.”

Both parents of the British rider were present in Madrid, and ended up having a much more personal ceremony and congratulatory moment with their son on the 'podium' than what they might have in Madrid itself: “All I wanted to do was to applaud and give my son a hug, but in the end everyone created a fabulous moment. If it was in Madrid, it would have been immense, but they would have celebrated in front of thousands of strangers, and we wouldn’t have got a look-in. As it happened, the riders got to celebrate with the people most important to them, and you could tell by the smiles on their faces that they were so delighted.”