“I would have liked to go home with more” – Tom Pidcock reflects on Giro d’Italia debut with Q36.5

Tom Pidcock has completed his first Grand Tour with Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, and while there were flashes of promise, the 2025 Giro d’Italia ultimately left the British rider feeling that more was possible.

For both Pidcock and Q36.5, it was a maiden Giro appearance. The team made history by lining up in its first ever Grand Tour, while Pidcock added to his growing experience at the highest level of stage racing. He finished sixteenth overall in the general classification, narrowly missing out on a potential top ten.

“I would have liked to go home with more, of course, but in Grand Tours it's so incredibly difficult to get it all done, whether you're going for a stage or the GC,” Pidcock told In de Leiderstrui on the final day in Rome. “But I do think this was my strongest Grand Tour that I've ridden. I did quite well.”

It might have been better. His best shot at a stage win, the gravel Stage 9 to Siena, was derailed by a crash. Then, a tactical miscalculation on Stage 19, under intense heat, led to his biggest time loss of the race.

“The tank was not empty, no,” Pidcock explained. “I tried to join the breakaway in stage 19, but blew myself up completely in the heat. That wasn't very smart, on a day that was suddenly very hot and I know that I usually don't adapt to those conditions very quickly. So that wasn't a good idea. Because of that action, I lose my chance of a top ten.”

He eventually lost around 18 minutes that day, a gap he was never able to recover. On Stage 20, there was little left to fight for.

“In stage 20 there was not much more to gain for me, also because it was my very first time doing a climb of an hour.”

While Pidcock had ambitions of a stronger showing, he acknowledged that his build-up to the race may not have been ideal, “To be honest, I was more ambitious for the Giro than what I have shown now,” he admitted.

“But with the preparation I have had, without a real altitude training camp after the Ardennes classics, I perhaps could not have expected more.”

He also noted that his rivals came into the race fresher and better prepared, “All the men before me had a better preparation, with fewer racing days.”

As for what comes next, Pidcock won’t be riding the Tour de France this summer, instead setting his sights on the Vuelta a España, where he hopes to arrive in better shape and better conditions.

“I will hopefully be able to prepare myself more specifically towards the Vuelta,” he said. “With a bit of mountain biking in Andorra in the summer and at the European Championships in Melgaço.”