"We're 3 minutes from the winner – that’s an achievable gap": Tom Pidcock's Grand Tour winning dream more realistic than ever after breakthrough Vuelta podium says coach

Tom Pidcock’s third-place finish at the 2025 Vuelta a España may not have dethroned the sport’s Grand Tour elite, but for his long-time coach Kurt Bogaerts, it marked something just as significant — proof that the British rider is now knocking loudly on the door of overall victory.

“We are three minutes from the winner. And now we know that if we will potentially win a Grand Tour one of these days, we need to close a minimum of three to four minutes,” Kurt Bogaerts told The Cycling Podcast this weekend. “I think that’s an achievable gap.”

Riding in the colours of Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Pidcock delivered a measured and mature three-week performance in Spain — comfortably his best GC showing to date. For Bogaerts, the result wasn't just about where Pidcock stood on the final podium in Madrid, but how he got there. “This is only the Vuelta, but it’s a step in the right direction for Tom with the numbers he was doing,” the Belgian said. “I think his body got a signal that it can recover during stages.”

That, perhaps more than anything, is the breakthrough. Pidcock’s talent has never been in question — he was winning mountain stages at the Tour de France as early as 2022, and has already worn rainbow stripes in cyclocross and Olympic gold in mountain biking. But sustaining GC form over 21 days had remained the unknown. The Vuelta showed he can now endure, adapt, and even thrive deep into the third week.

Despite the breakthrough, Bogaerts was quick to temper expectations for the Tour de France, reiterating that neither he nor the team are in a rush. “I don’t think we need to go next year to try to win it, or only to go for the podium,” he said. “I think we try to copy this and analyse this event in detail. What can we do better? And what do we do well already?"

“Let’s make it achievable, the progression,” he added. “And you also need to know that the opposition will progress.”

That opposition — still defined by the sport’s ‘big four’ of Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Primoz Roglic and Vuelta winner Jonas Vingegaard — sets a high bar. But Pidcock and Q36.5 appear to be playing a long game, one based on performance data, maturity, and learning rather than headline-chasing ambition.

Still, ambition isn't lacking — least of all in Pidcock himself. “If he puts his mind towards something, he doesn’t fail much,” Bogaerts said of his rider’s mental resilience. That trait, coupled with his ability to race instinctively and recover deeply, has long hinted at GC potential. Now, there’s proof to back the theory.

Pidcock’s move to Q36.5 raised eyebrows when it was announced — leaving the proven Grand Tour machine of INEOS for a team still growing into its World Tour ambitions seemed a risk. But in hindsight, it may have given the Yorkshireman the freedom and focus he needed.

Less pressure. More responsibility. Clearer goals. And, most importantly, the chance to build something around him.