“I was by far and away the worst rider”: British prospect looks to reinvent career after struggles at Visma

Thomas Gloag is not pretending the last two years were easy. He is not pretending he was close to his potential. And he is definitely not pretending he coped with Team Visma | Lease a Bike’s famously brutal training standards.

In quotes collected by Cycling Weekly, the Gloag admitted that a 2023 altitude camp exposed the limits of his engine in a way he had never experienced.

“I have to be honest and say I’ve always struggled with volume,” he said. “When I went to an altitude camp with Visma in 2023, I was by far and away the worst rider.”

For a team built around relentless, metronomic workload, it was a brutal realisation. For Gloag, it became the starting point for how to rebuild his career.

Gloag’s rise had looked effortless at first. Sixth overall at the 2023 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. A surprise Giro debut. A stage win on his comeback from a shattered kneecap. But the momentum never stuck. A fractured elbow reset everything again. Across 2024 and 2025 he raced often but rarely at the level he expected.

His assessment was blunt. “This last season and in 2023, I started quite strongly and finished well, but between March and September I wasn’t as competitive. To be off that top level for six months is a long time.”

Rather than blame luck, he pointed to preparation. As a junior he averaged just ten hours a week on the bike. The engine everyone assumes he has simply had not been built yet. “My ability to handle volume has never been very good, and it’s always been my Achilles’ heel.”

Team Visma | Lease a Bike were open to keeping him, but Gloag sensed that staying meant stagnating. The route forward was clearer elsewhere.

“They have so many fantastic riders, and I think jumping across to Q36.5, a growing team that should race all three Grand Tours next year, was a better option for me.”

There is also comfort in familiar faces. Tom Pidcock from their Trinity days, Fred Wright from VC Londres, and head of performance Kurt Bogaerts, the coach who believed in him first. “Kurt stuck his neck out for me and that meant a lot,” Gloag said. “He and the people around him are really smart and it ended up being an easy decision.”

Despite the hardships, he credits Team Visma | Lease a Bike for teaching him how to function as a professional. “It was the best place in the world to learn the ropes because at Visma you get a masterclass in how to be a pro cyclist.”

His most interesting observation was about the culture everyone romanticises. “There’s so much emphasis on the latest cutting edge thing, but the reality is the sexy stuff that is exciting to read about doesn’t contribute to a significantly better performance. The basics are 95 percent of the sport.”

Q36.5’s WorldTour wildcard access guarantees he will have chances. But Gloag insists the name of the race is irrelevant. “I’d love to go back to a Grand Tour… but I’m not bothered whether it’s the Giro or a Crystal Palace crit. The main thing I want to do is ride my bike fast more consistently and be at the front of races. The goal is clear: to be at the back less and at the front more.”

It’s rare to hear a young GC prospect strip everything back this honestly. And it makes the reset year ahead far more compelling.