Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock could be on his way out of INEOS Grenadiers

Tom Pidcock is under contract with INEOS Grenadiers until 2027 but he could be on his way out. Over the past few months this topic has already been brought up and a few teams have shown interest in the Briton; but a new report now brings the topic to light even further and opens that possibility wider.

Journalist Daniel Benson, who is a very reputable source when it comes to transfers in the cycling world, has reported that two teams have the interest in signing the Briton already this winter but these cannot be named publicly. A transfer is certainly not guaranteed by any means but it is possible, with the Briton's large salary coming in the way of the team's absolute goal of winning the Tour de France once again.

Pidcock is reportedly earning around €4 million per season (one of the very highest in the peloton), although these values usually vary depending the source, but provide a rather accurate estimate of how much the 25-year old makes in the British team that continues to have a very high budget. The team has lost many of it's leaders such as Adam Yates, Richard Carapaz and Tao Geoghegan Hart and with Egan Bernal not finishing high in a Grand Tour for several years already; it leaves the team in a depleted position. Carlos Rodríguez was to leave last season but a final push got the team to secure the Spaniard, but he did not improve on his Tour de France this year and rode to Nice in seventh place. 

Pidcock himself has the dream of contesting for the top results at the Tour de France, and over the past year has put in efforts in an attempt to prove his worth over three weeks. Potential is there but he has often struggled in the second half of the race. This year it was a big goal according to him, but eventually he prioritized MTB in his preparation, gave up on his GC ambitions for the sake of the team and eventually abandoned the race in the second week.

Before the Tour de Suisse Pidcock launched very sharp words which certainly were not to the delight of INEOS: "I am going to decide what I want my Tour to be this year. Nobody else. Otherwise you don’t get anything from me". Eventually he did not turn out to be able to contest for the overall classification which ended this possible internal drama in the team. He has this Monday won the Olympic Mountain Bike title for the second time after an impressive display of power, coming back from a puncture and winning the race after a daredevil downhill move on the final lap. 

But Benson, talking to Pidcock's agent Andrew McQuaid, gets further insight on how they see this long-term contract: “The problem with long-term contracts is that things can change over time. Tom signed a five-year extension in 2022 and he has achieved everything he needed to achieve so far, as we discussed during the negotiations. Tom wants to tick off a number of big goals in the coming years". Whether that will be with INEOS or with another team (because of Red Bull and the big budget increase, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe certainly one of the interested teams) is a different question.

"INEOS is a great team with great people, we are constantly communicating about what is best for the team and how Tom fits in, what is best for Tom, what the goals are, how to achieve them, etc. If at any point the goals between Tom and the team differ, I am sure that as adults we will sit down with the management of INEOS Grenadiers and talk about it. From the owner down to the bottom, they are smart, committed, ambitious and experienced people. If there are ever any problems, I am sure we can sit down and talk about it.”