"Important to now continue doing what we do" - Q36.5 and Tom Pidcock enter final week of La Vuelta with breakthrough podium in sight

With the second rest day reached, Tom Pidcock is still very much in contention at the 2025 Vuelta a Espana, proving many of his doubters wrong and entering the final block of racing 3rd overall in the general classification. As such, both he and the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team are rightly starting to believe a breakthrough Grand Tour podium finish is within reach.

“There are now two races. There is one for the Vuelta win between Vingegaard and Almeida, and there is one for the podium with Tom, Hindley and Gall and possibly with Pellizzari, Riccitello and Kuss," explains Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team's Head of Racing Alex Sans Vega in a rest day press release on the team's official website. "The gaps are still relatively small between those guys now. They have roughly the same time trial skills, so I think that it will be tight until Bola del Mundo. The weather here can also play a role, so we keep a close eye on that.”

2:38 down on race leader Vingegaard, Pidcock enters the second rest day of La Vuelta 2025 with a buffer of 32 seconds over nearest podium rival Jai Hindley, with Felix Gall 52 seconds down on the British double Olympic mountain bike champion. In other words, it's all to play for.

For Q36.5, the message is clear. Keep doing what you're doing. After all, why change the formula that has got Pidcock into this position for the first time in his career.

“For us it’s important to now continue doing what we do and that is to support Tom as good as we can. That is by going in the break, and by staying around him to get him in the best position for the important points," explains Alex Sans Vega. "I think the vibes are good although you can see the accumulated fatigue on their faces but that’s normal after two weeks. I think we can all be very proud of where we are as a team now.”

Key to that plan of supporting Pidcock, will be Marcel Camprubi and Fabio Christen. “This second week was really hard for me,” the Catalan said. “I was feeling good until the rest day and in the stage after the rest day I tried hard to be in the breakaway. After that I felt bad. In the stages in the Basque Country I was a bit sick. Then every climb is endless. Luckily, I started to feel better in the stages in the second half of this week.”

Camprubi insists though, that he is learning a lot this race. “The level of the guys every day is just unbelievable. I did some monuments this year and knew the level was high but here it’s all days. Some days when you feel very empty, it’s still full on. Angliru wasn’t too bad for me because I felt decent and when you feel okay nothing is impossible. The people roadside have been amazing every day. They make this a special race and give me those Grand Tour vibes.”

For Christen meanwhile, survival and reaching Madrid is the main target. “I am tired,” says the 23-year-old Swiss. “It’s been a good race until now. I love the crowds on the side of the road. That helped on the long climbs we had this week because I didn’t feel as strong as week one. This week was all about surviving for me. I am now looking forward to the rest day and hopefully there will be some chances for me in the third week.”