"You suffer simply to limit your losses" - UAE-led Tour de France has become a nightmare for Tom Pidcock
CyclingTuesday, 14 July 2026 at 16:20
Tom Pidcock is a rider of great quality, but someone who is not the ideal fit for the fight for the yellow jersey. The British rider, racing for Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, admits it is mentally hard to race a Tour that is being far from explosive but perhaps the longest endurance effort of his career.
Tom Pidcock struggling at the Tour's long climbs
After finishing third at last year's Vuelta a España, Pidcock confirmed his potential to race three weeks at his best level. But there, he found favourable terrain and circumstances, with a race where the shorter efforts and the single-mountain stages were more frequent.
"I enjoyed last year's Vuelta as it progressed," Pidcock confirms, having finished third behind Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida. However, the ongoing Tour de France is not going his way.
In a race controlled by UAE Team Emirates - XRG, where the efforts are often hours-long and endurance-based, Pidcock is not having the legs he hoped for in the decisive moments.
Tom Pidcock at the 2026 Tour de France
"Every day you fight and suffer, without being able to fight for the victory every day. Sometimes you suffer simply to limit your losses. This is very difficult for me mentally," Pidcock said in words to QuiBiciSport.
Entering the second week of the Tour, Pidcock was 13th in the overall classification, 9:40 minutes away from the yellow jersey Tadej Pogacar. A place in the Top10 is quite possible, as he sits 28 seconds behind 10th place Egan Bernal, but even so he is in direct fight with other strong climbers such as Tobias Johannessen and Ilan van Wilder.
But the truth is the Tour is being in a completely different way, and Pidcock's explosivity is not worth much when the riders reach the finale with a massive energy expenditure. "And then those long climbs... I'm someone who likes variety and races with short climbs. A long climb gives me too much time to think."
Read also
Pidcock races the Tour de France, but dreams of a rainbow jersey
Pidcock, on stage 9, finally found a day that suited him perfectly - and where the brutal heat wave didn't affect his performance. He was on the day's breakaway but had to settle for third place on a finale won by Mathieu van der Poel. Pidcock was aggressive and racing in style, but gear problems wrecked his chances of winning the stage.
But Pidcock, a versatile rider, reminds the cycling world that he is much more than just a rider aiming for the overall classification at Grand Tours; and still has a lot he aims for outside of them.
"My big goal was to defend my Olympic mountain bike title in Paris after winning it in Tokyo. After that episode, I said to myself 'I want to take the decisive step towards winning a Monument Classic.' And then the rainbow jersey is, obviously, the ultimate goal," he concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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