Tom Pidcock urged to "think about what Mathieu van der Poel did with Alpecin-Deceuninck" following Q36.5 move
CyclingMonday, 16 December 2024 at 14:04
Tom Pidcock's time at the INEOS Grenadiers has ended and the multi-discipline British star has dropped down a level to sign for the ambitious Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team. Now, Pidcock has been urged to follow in the footsteps of Mathieu van der Poel at Alpecin-Deceuninck and lead Q36.5 into an era of success.
"Ivan Glasenberg is the owner of Q36.5 and he also bought Pinerolo for 200 million dollars. The value of Pidcock is that he gets good results on the road but even better results in cyclocross and mountain biking," assesses ex-pro Christian Vande Velde on the NBC Sports Cycling Podcast, Beyond the Podium.
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Although Pidcock was given much freedom at the INEOS Grenadiers and allowed to combine his road ambitions with cyclocross and mountain bike, it's likely the double Olympic gold medallist will get unquestioned leadership of the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team with almost complete autonomy to pick and choose the races best suited to his capabilities. If successful, could Pidcock lead Q36.5 into the World Tour, and into the biggest races on the calendar such as the Tour de France. Given his massive contract for a second tier team, it's potentially this that is the plan.
For this to happen, Vande Velde urges Pidcock to try and folloq in the footsteps of Mathieu van der Poel. "Pidcock is going to a team with a much smaller budget, but think about what Van der Poel did with Alpecin-Deceuninck," he explains. "When he first went to the Tour of Flanders, I didn't know a single other rider in that team. Now it's a great, incredible team. We need more important players, but in the Tour work I don't see it happening next year."
"Smaller teams that become bigger: it's happened before," adds Tejay van Garderen. "Sometimes you need that one rider and that lifts a team to a higher level. It's not that they're not used to riding big races. It's a reincarnation of Qhubeka. Those guys know what they're doing and have good riders. They just needed a certain focus. Tom Pidcock is going to give them that. It will be interesting to see what freedom he gets. I'm sure that being able to participate in cyclocross and mountain biking was part of the contract negotiations."
Things are about to get lit with @Q36_5ProCycling 🔥
— Tom Pidcock (@tompidcock) December 6, 2024
I'm excited to join the team for the next 3 years!
Read more - https://t.co/9BDzFUwUlI#RacingTheFuture
🎥 : Calvin Cheung pic.twitter.com/fuxtMGldFR
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i mean, duh, the ONLY reason for pidcock to be at Q36.5 is freedom and autonomy. vande velde has kind of an art for the obvious. but as far as the “you should do what van der poel did” advice goes, well, I’LL state the obvious: doing what mathieu did KINDA depends on being ABLE to do what mathieu did. if it didn’t then yeah, that would really be some terrific advice.
Not only that but what MVDP did at AD had a lot to do with a personality that TP will never have.
...you could also add diminuer,etiquette,basic PR skills and respect all of which Pidcock lacks in abundance.
sadly true. mathieu is the bedrock AD was built on, and he’s always shouldered that role and always seen the bigger picture: took MUCH less money than he could have gotten while the team was growing, and has written them new book on what it means to be a completely selfless superstar, witness every ferocious leadout for jasper and what he did at MSR last year. yup, so far that’s not thomas.
* not taking anything away from the tireless sacrifices wout has made as a superstar. those are two extraordinary individuals.
Get over yourself! Tom is fine, he's quite a character in his way - he's got a great sense of humour for a start. Watch him and Matt Stephens do one of their cafe rides, they're both a hoot.
I don't mind Mathieu, but he's a bit of a cold fish in case you haven't noticed.
You guys make me laugh, you get a unique rider like Tom appears on the scene and all you can do is bitch!
By the way Senna, your use of a comma and then the lack of a space between words is usually an indicator of ASD. Now I'm being bitchy!
Nonsense Mistermaumau. Tom has noticeably more character and personality than Mathieu.
Look at the photograph with this article - when was the last time you saw Mathieu crack a smile like that?
happy holidays.