Cover stories: issue 108 - Tom Pidcock special edition

Cover stories: issue 108 - Tom Pidcock special edition

Ineos Grenadiers Issue 108 photos: Sean Hardy Tom Pidcock words: Andy McGrath

The music notes for Little Donkey sit in the keyboard of Tom Pidcock’s living room. They belong to his piano-teaching girlfriend, not the Ineos Grenadier bike racer himself, though he’s the kind of renaissance man who could become a virtuoso pretty quickly if he set his mind to it. He seems to excel at everything he does.

We are visiting Pidcock at home among the snow poles in the mountains of Andorra as he answers readers' eclectic questions (Sample: "Can you ride a unicycle?") with us for our Interview issue and shoots his squad's 2022 kit.

His well-deserved winter break has flown by. A knee operation had Pidcock climbing the walls, raring to get going again during off-season. He is not the kind of person who is able to sit still for long. As soon as he was recovered, he squeezed in a few runs alongside the bike rides: as Strava has already seen, the 22-year-old is rapid with trainers on. 

Buy the limited edition Tom Pidcock issue 108

'Tis an off-season to be jolly for Pidcock. He’s packed in cyclo-cross success, mountain biking World Cup and Olympic gold as well as Brabantse Pijl victory in his debut WorldTour year – and a very near miss at Amstel Gold Race. As his Rouleur cover rather suggests, he really is like a kid stood in front of an arcade robotic claw with the ability to grab cycle sport's races at will.

The Yorkshireman is a superstar in the making, but reassuringly normal. Success has not gone to his head: the thing that stands out most in his apartment is an oversize decorative Lego head rather than any trophies. No airs or graces, no entourage, no worries. He's been brought up well, clearly: he apologises profusely to the Ineos Grenadiers content officer for forgetting her jumper that he borrowed weeks before. 

Out on the photo shoot, whether close to the bumper of the hire car downhill or hitting high scores in the arcade, he was fearless and having fun too. 

Few bike riders get a Rouleur cover during their careers; Tom Pidcock has already done it twice (his first one was memorable too). There will no doubt be a few more over the next 15 years.

Buy the limited edition Tom Pidcock issue 108

Ineos Grenadiers Issue 108 photos: Sean Hardy Tom Pidcock words: Andy McGrath

READ MORE

Liv AlUla Jayco

The future is purple: behind the scenes at Liv AlUla Jayco

Liv AlUla Jayco, Australia’s only top-division women’s team, are ready to take on the world. Rouleur gets in the team car at their home race and discovers why...

Leer más
Mark Donovan

From WorldTour rejection to Giro d'Italia stage hunting: Mark Donovan is back at cycling's top table

The Q36.5 rider has had a near-three-year hiatus from cycling's Grand Tours, but now riding better than ever he's once again looking to be in...

Leer más
Mads Pedersen

Mads Pedersen is at the peak of his powers

A second stage win and a return to the maglia rosa is a fitting reward for a rider in some of his best ever form

Leer más
Giro d'Italia 2025 stage four preview: A fast finish in Lecce

Giro d'Italia 2025 stage four preview: A fast finish in Lecce

A chance for the pure sprinters to take a stage win as the Giro resumes in Italy's heel

Leer más
The Dilemma: Should Primož Roglič give away the Giro d'Italia pink jersey?

The Dilemma: Should Primož Roglič give away the Giro d'Italia pink jersey?

The Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider will next be able to take time on his rivals during stage seven's mountain-top finish and stage nine's gravel. Does he...

Leer más
La Reina: Demi Vollering is exactly where she belongs

La Reina: Demi Vollering is exactly where she belongs

The Dutchwoman’s victory in La Vuelta España Femenina is a product of exemplary teamwork from FDJ-Suez

Leer más

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE