Tom Pidcock is separating from the Ineos Grenadiers WorldTour team effective immediately, marking an end of what is the dominant drama of this racing off-season.
Rumours that a Pidcock exit was back on the cards first emerged last week via Gazzetta dello Sport, while Escape Collective heard on Tuesday that an announcement was imminent. Pidcock has not been present at Ineos’ training camp this week in Denia, Spain, which also revived rumours of an imminent split. The team issued an official confirmation of the news in a short press release Wednesday afternoon.
Ineos CEO John Allert stated in the release that “Tom has some big multi-disciplinary goals and we believe this decision enables both of us to pursue our future ambitions with clarity, purpose and determination.
“We thank Tom for the last four years and wish him the best of luck for the future.” Neither Ineos nor Pidcock’s agent, Andrew McQuaid, responded immediately to Escape Collective‘s request for further comment.
Listen to the Spin Cycle crew discuss Pidcock, Ineos, and his likely move to Q36.5 on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Pidcock’s new team is not yet known, but the most likely destination is thought to be Q36.5. The 25-year-old looked poised to make the switch to Doug Ryder’s UCI ProTeam six weeks ago, before movement slowed and Pidcock appeared at Ineos’ November camp, seemingly showing he would be staying at the British team for 2025.
However, Pidcock’s subsequent appearance at Rouleur Live, as reported at the time by Benson, showed things were still fractious between rider and his Ineos Grenadiers team. Asked in an on-stage interview whether he was “in a happier place in terms of clarity and purpose moving forward,” Pidcock replied: “No … I’m never going to lie.”
Although Pidcock signed a contract extension in March 2022 that went through 2027, his rocky relationship with the team is not an entirely new development. In season two of the Netflix Tour de France Unchained documentary series, cameras showed the tensions between Pidcock and sports director Steve Cummings at the 2023 Tour de France as the two clashed over his role in the race. When Cummings was abruptly sidelined from an on-race role at the 2024 Tour, Pidcock said “I don’t think it’ll have an impact” to not have the team’s Head of Racing at the most important race of the year. Cummings separated from Ineos earlier this fall and will direct for Jayco-AlUla in 2025.
An Escape Collective investigation in November revealed other clashes, including Pidcock pushing back at team management in an all-team meeting and disagreements over who had the final say over his racing and training program. Ineos Grenadiers wanted its highest-paid rider, estimated between €3-5 million per year, to increase his focus on road racing in lieu of his off-road pursuits, but Pidcock held firm, which brought him a second consecutive Olympic mountain bike gold medal.
That fraught relationship came to a head in early October when Ineos management pulled Pidcock from Il Lombardia two days before the start of the race with scant explanation, which at the time seemed to indicate a situation that had gone beyond the point of no return. Wednesday’s news confirmed that. For Pidcock, a move to a new team provides a fresh start. For its part, Ineos will enter 2025 without one of its best riders, but with more clarity on team leadership.
Did we do a good job with this story?