"I stayed calm, I rode smart, and now I've won" - Tom Pidcock learns his lessons to thrust himself into GC contention at 2025 Vuelta a Andalucia with stage win
Cycling
Tom Pidcock's start to life with the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team continues to be electric. The Brit stormed to a punchy stage win on stage 2 of the 2025 Vuelta a Andalucia, already his 4th victory of the campaign.
"It was good," Pidcock reflected post-stage, having took an uphill sprint win ahead of a group containing form INEOS Grenadiers teammates Pavel Sivakov and Brandon Rivera, plus Enric Mas and Clement Berthet, clearly having learned his lessons from a disappointed stage 1. "Today I stayed calm, I rode smart, and now I've won. I think yesterday I was not disappointed, but I rode stupid. I wasted a lot of energy in the race. I was riding too enthusiastically. It was a mistake on my part. Perhaps I was being a little bit too confident. It was a nice reality check."
"Today I raced really smart, I didn't have a big panic, I let the race play out, and in the end it was perfect," Pidcock continues. "I know I'm in great shape and yesterday was just not a good day. So, it's really nice to get my hands in the air and be up there on GC. The week is long, and yesterday, you learn more from winning than you do from winning. It's better to happen yesterday than in a Monument."
Pidcock is now right in the mix for the general classification too, sitting 3rd on the podium after two stages, just 32 seconds down on Sivakov. "I didn't look so much at the other three stages because I knew the first two were the most important for GC," concludes the Brit. "The race is so hard. We had five guys in the front with a two minute gap at one point today. It's crazy how easily the race can explode. Anything can happen."
Stage 2 - 2025 Vuelta a Andalucia
| 1 | Pidcock Tom | Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team | 03:22:04 |
| 2 | Rivera Brandon | INEOS Grenadiers | + 00 |
| 3 | Sivakov Pavel | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | + 00 |
| 4 | Berthet Clément | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 00 |
| 5 | Mas Enric | Movistar Team | + 00 |
| 6 | Van Gils Maxim | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 01:10 |
| 7 | Hoelgaard Markus | Uno-X Mobility | + 01:10 |
| 8 | Wellens Tim | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | + 01:10 |
| 9 | Guerreiro Ruben | Movistar Team | + 01:10 |
| 10 | Diaz Jose Manuel | Burgos Burpellet BH | + 01:10 |
| 11 | Cras Steff | Team TotalEnergies | + 01:10 |
| 12 | Staune-Mittet Johannes | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:10 |
| 13 | Soler Marc | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | + 01:15 |
| 14 | Prodhomme Nicolas | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | + 01:23 |
| 15 | Laurance Axel | INEOS Grenadiers | + 01:27 |
| 16 | Gachignard Thomas | Team TotalEnergies | + 02:37 |
#RutaDelSol 🇪🇸
— Nicolás Borrás C. (@BorrasNicolas) February 20, 2025
Otra de Pidcock, ya había ganado dos en Arabia.
Después de emprender la emboscada a Van Gils, en un final muy quebrado. Llegaron a meta y Brandon Rivera fue segundo sprintando, muy buen nivel.
Sivakov, tercero y nuevo líder.pic.twitter.com/GReMsrgsR9
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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