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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- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
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