Tom Pidcock has "made a massive step forward" ahead of the Ardennes according to coach: "But he’s not the best. There’s still work to do"

After a little break from racing since his Milano-Sanremo disappointment, Tom Pidcock returns to action this Friday at Brabantse Pijl. Having already sparkled in early 2025, Pidcock's coach, Kurt Bogaerts is optimistic about his rider's chances of making a real impact.

"I think more like a general improvement of Tom, and I think he’s just a better rider at the moment compared with last year. He’s performing consistently on a higher level," Bogaerts reflects in conversation with Velo about Pidcock's positive Spring to date. "I don’t think there are particular highlights, but just consistent high-level. I think that’s what it is."

"I think Tom is a versatile rider. Tom is not a rider who particularly goes for one type of racing. He really loves the general racing," continues Bogaerts. "When we go to a race, we try to perform, and if there’s a stage race or a one-day race, we try to make a plan to be in the game for the podium or to win."

That plan has already come good in 2025 too, with four wins added to his palmares so far this year, including a first ever general classification triumph at the AlUla Tour. Add to that a brilliant 2nd to Tadej Pogacar at Strade Bianche and another solid GC showing at Tirreno-Adriatico and Pidcock looks to have made big progress since swapping the INEOS Grenadiers for the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team for 2025.

"I think changing environment is definitely giving him new energy," says Bogaerts. "I think, yeah, he’s also a year older, a lot more experienced in the racing, and I think he had a good winter. I think that’s a boring point, but that’s most of the time the most important point - how you do your winter. If you can do a consistent block of training without getting injured or sick, then basically you build on the day before. And that kind of happened a little bit along the season, that he could go from race to race and had no setbacks."

"I think he made a massive step forward, and he showed courage, the courage that you want to see from a good rider. That will bring him success sooner or later. But I think there you also see his progress as a rider," continues the coach, referencing the standout performance at Strade Bianche. "If you can ride with the best rider in the world for a long time, and you’re not afraid to cooperate, and then the best guy wins, that just shows where we are at the moment. He’s with the better riders at the moment, but he’s not the best. There’s work to do to still try to close the gap. You don’t know if that’s possible or not, but we have the ambition and belief that it’s possible."

And as mentioned, the next stop off on Pidcock's quest to be the best is coming up quickly. "Now we try to be in our best possible preparation for this block of racing in the Ardennes — Brabantse Pijl, Amstel, Flèche, Liège. I think it’s good that you work towards a period where you have not one chance but potentially four chances to try to do a big performance," Bogaerts previews. "So that it’s not everything on one race. I think there are four races with characteristics that suit him. He likes these races, and it makes sense, also knowing that he raced early this season. So he took a small break to refresh."