MTB World Champion, Pogacar's big rival and Tour de France frontrunner - Tom Pidcock's stellar 2026 season
Cycling
We take a look at Tom Pidcock’s 2026 season. The British rider, part of Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, has become Mountain Bike World Champion once again; was a headliner at the Tour de France; and was very active all-year round - including a battle with Tadej Pogacar at Milano-Sanremo.
Perhaps the highlight of the year on the road came in March, when he finished second at Milano-Sanremo. Pidcock produced a memorable sprint against Tadej Pogacar to contest the victory in one of the calendar’s most prestigious Monuments. Although he had to settle for second place, his performance confirmed that he can challenge the best one-day racers on the climb to the Poggio, in a contest that has already become part of cycling history.
His form in Italy was not limited to Sanremo. Just three days earlier, he had won Milano-Torino; while also finishing seventh at Strade Bianche. That strong start to the season also featured a second place at Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior and an impressive ride at the Vuelta a Andalucía.
At the Andalusian race, Pidcock won the final stage from La Roda de Andalucía to Lucena and finished third overall. He also reached the podium on the opening stage of the Vuelta a la Región de Murcia, taking third place.
Injuries at the Volta a Catalunya
Pidcock's spring was nevertheless hampered by a fall at the Volta a Catalunya, in which he crashed down a ravine. He was forced to abandon the race, suffering a knee injury, although he avoided fractures.
Tom Pidcock on the attack at the 2026 Tour de France
Pidcock resumed racing at the Tour of the Alps where he won a stage, but was ultimately unable to reach his best level at the Ardennes classics. He later finished second at Eschborn-Frankfurt; and won the Andorra MoraBanc classic in June in the run-up to the Tour de France.
A Tour de France focused on the general classification
Another major milestone in his season came in July. Pidcock started the Tour de France focused on the general classification, as well as chasing stage wins.
His race featured some strong performances in the mountains. Breakaway-wise, he finished third on stage nine from Malemort to Ussel, then repeated the result on stage 13 from Dole to Belfort. These days helped him gain time, which ultimately aided in his ninth place on the final overall classification.
Mountain Biking World Champion
After the Tour, Pidcock became Mountain Biking World Champion, taking the victory in Val di Sole - starting from deep down in the starting row together with Mathieu van der Poel, who could not achieve the same.
The second half of the year kept Pidcock among the main contenders on the calendar. In September, he finished fourth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and sixth at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, two top-level Canadian one-day races. He also won the GP Industria & Artigianato and finished seventh in the road race at the World Championships, where he was a prominent figure throughout.
October proved especially productive as he brought his strong season to a close. The Briton claimed consecutive second places at the Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine before finishing sixth at Il Lombardia. They were three high-level performances in some of the most important races on the Italian calendar.
His final major stage race of the season was the Tour of Guangxi. There, he finished second overall and also took second place on the sixth and final stage from Yizhou to Nongla.
It was a season in which he combined top-level results in the Classics with a clear focus on the general classification at the Tour de France. His ninth place in Paris and second place at Milano-Sanremo were two of the most significant results in an especially well-rounded 2027 campaign.
Read also
All of Tom Pidcock’s road victories in 2026
| Date | Race |
| 18 February | Vuelta a Andalucía - Stage 5 |
| 18 March | Milano-Torino |
| 22 April | Tour of the Alps - Stage 3 |
| 21 June | Andorra MoraBanc Clàssica |
| 6 September | GP Industria & Artigianato |
Juan LarraCycling Journalist
Juan Larra is a writer for Cyclinguptodate and editor-in-chief of Ciclismoaldia, where he has played a central role since its inception. Under his leadership, the website has become a trusted source for professional cycling coverage, offering in-depth analysis, news, and feature stories.
A sports journalist with over 20 years of experience, Juan earned his degree in Journalism from the University of Seville in 2007. He began his career covering a wide range of sports—including football, basketball, Formula 1, MotoGP, tennis, and cycling—for platforms such as the official La Liga app, Vodafone and Movistar websites, NBA Blogdebasket, and Cadena Cope, honing his skills in writing and editorial management.
In addition to his work at Ciclismoaldia, Juan contributes to Cyclinguptodate and serves as editor-in-chief for the tennis-focused site Tenisaldia. Throughout his career, he has conducted exclusive interviews with cyclists and sports figures, provided detailed analysis of competitions ranging from local Spanish races to major international events, and acted as a special correspondent at prestigious races including Paris-Roubaix, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España.
Juan’s combination of experience, expertise, and direct access to athletes has established him—and the platforms he leads—as authoritative voices in professional cycling.
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- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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