Following his high-profile transfer from the Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5, Tom Pidcock wasted little time in nabbing his first win for the Swiss second-division team. Making his season debut at the UCI 2.1-rated AlUla Tour this week, the 25-year-old Brit ascended to victory on stage 2.
“Today was super important for me,” Pidcock said after the stage to Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah. “New team, all these great people, and I just wanted to do them proud today.”
It was an unusual day of racing in Saudi Arabia as organizers temporarily neutralized the stage and removed some 30 km from the route due to what were deemed unsafe road surfaces. Racing was restarted for the final 5 km of the originally planned route. The last 3 km or so of that finale comprised a climb to the finish line.
The bunch flew up the climb at a torrid pace, quickly catching the day’s two breakaway riders – who had begun the finale with the 30-second gap they had before the neutralization – and thinning the lead group. Pidcock let others apply the initial pressure before putting in a decisive move with some 500 meters to go.
When he went, no one could follow, and he held on to win four seconds ahead of Rainer Kepplinger of Bahrain Victorious, with fellow mountain biking star Alan Hatherly nabbing third in just his second day of racing with Jayco AlUla.
Wednesday’s stage was Pidcock’s first chance to raise his arms on the road since April of last year, when he won the Amstel Gold Race. His victory in the Dutch one-day was the road racing highlight of an up-and-down fourth and final season with Ineos in which Pidcock notched some strong placings in major events – including nearly winning a Tour de France stage – but did not take any other road wins on the year.
He did, of course, win an Olympic mountain bike title, further boosting his profile as one of the most recognizable riders in the world, just one reason that Q36.5 sought to acquire him when it became clear that a rift had formed between Pidcock and the Ineos Grenadiers. When all was said and done, Pidcock indeed signed a three-year deal with Q36.5.
As Q36.5 team boss Doug Ryder told Escape Collective earlier this month, Pidcock’s presence has immediately led to the squad getting invited to more races. By performing in those races, Q36.5 will start to rack up UCI points, which could lead to a hoped-for promotion to the WorldTour ranks down the road. Wednesday’s result, then, was an encouraging sign of things coming together in the early goings for the team.
As for Pidcock, stage 2 of the AlUla Tour was a welcome confirmation of what he had seen in the offseason.
“I knew I was in good shape,” he said. “This year, now we’re on SRAM, the power meter’s different. When you look objectively I’m in a really good place but of course after a winter you haven’t competed against anyone, you’ve been doing a lot of efforts on your own, you don’t know. It’s nice to get a bit of assurance.”
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