Backstage at Rouleur Live 2024, there’s a game happening. Tom Pidcock is trying to roll ping pong balls into plastic cups taped to the end of a table and he’s getting frustrated. Within a few minutes of playing, he’s assessing the curvature of the table surface, and is trying to figure out if there is a breeze coming from the heater on the left of him which is impacting the direction in which the ball is rolling. He scores once and nods triumphantly, then he misses a few times and the frustration creeps in. He’s playing against Matt Stephens and he simply has to beat him. There is no other option. This is who Tom Pidcock is.
I sit down with him for an interview a few moments after his game (which – after much debate and to Pidcock’s disgust – was settled in a draw) and we start to talk about his success at the Paris Olympics, where he took the gold medal in the mountain bike race. He won after puncturing and needing a bike change, then closing a gap of almost a minute in a matter of a few laps. His move on the final corner of the race, where he undertook France’s Viktor Koretsky, was genius, a masterclass in bike-handling and tactics. We speak about how it felt to win his second consecutive Olympic gold medal at just 25 years old.
“I guess in some ways, it was like a big relief. But then again at the same time, I felt like it was only as good as expectations,” he states. “I couldn't help thinking that I haven't achieved that much on the road, so it’s bittersweet, if you know what I mean.”
Pidcock’s assessment of himself is brutally harsh. I don’t really get what he means, because the British rider has won Amstel Gold Race, Strade Bianche, a stage of the Tour de France, Brabantse Pijl and has finished second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in just his four years as part of the WorldTour peloton. Most would be happy if they made it to the end of their careers with such illustrious palmarès on the road, but for Pidcock, it’s nowhere near enough. He wants to leave an indelible mark on his sport.
“I want to leave a legacy in cycling in general. I think having different disciplines definitely helps build you as a rider,” he says. “The riders coming to road racing, like Thibau Nys, for example, he's one of the best in cyclo-cross so that helps him be a bigger name on the road too. It helps create that legacy.”
The Yorkshire-born rider notes that there’s some obstacles in the way of him achieving the lofty ambitions he has on the road. He speaks about Tadej Pogačar and the dominance that the UAE Team Emirates rider has exhibited this season, standing on the top step of the podium in the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the World Championships (to name just a few of his victories in 2024). In order to win, Pidcock needs to be able to beat the Slovenian star.
“It’s getting a bit monotonous isn’t it?” Pidcock scoffs when I ask what it’s like to race against Pogačar. “He is on another level. Everyone's going to be scratching their heads on how to close that gap, and I don't know if that's possible in one year. He's definitely set the level of the sport, and everyone else has to get there now. There's no there's no secrets. Everyone works hard now, all teams, riders, staff, the level is much deeper than it's ever been.”
One possibility when it comes to getting closer to Pogačar’s level, Pidcock suggests, is focusing more of his energy solely on road racing. This season has seen him split his attention between mountain biking and races with his trade team, Ineos Grenadiers, in pursuit of Olympic gold.
“My training won’t change, it’s not like I’ve been training this year on the mountain bike all the time, I just focused on it because it was the one race I wanted to win this year if I was going to pick any,” Pidcock says. “But I will put a bit more mental energy towards specifically the road. I have more potential on the road. What I said after the Olympics to my girlfriend was that I wanted to try and prove myself there.”
Channelling ‘mental energy’ into a goal is something that seems crucial to Pidcock’s ability to win. His psychological state plays as much a part as his physical state when it comes to racing, and it’s his steely, determined mindset which has helped him win so much so far. I ask if juggling so many disciplines is putting too much strain on his ability to focus.
“It's been other things fatiguing me mentally this year,” he says after a pause and with a wry smile. He won’t elaborate further, but it’s easy to infer that the British rider is referring to the public discourse within the Ineos Grenadiers this season. There has been controversy surrounding Pidcock’s place in the team, with rumours swirling about a potential transfer and an early contract buyout. His deselection from Il Lombardia at the end of the season was a clear sign of his fractured relationship with his employers.
Now a few months on from that dramatic period, when his place at Ineos is now seemingly confirmed, the British rider is careful to toe the party line: “Everyone knows we had a difficult year as a team and I know that they're working really hard for everyone to get to make it better,” he says bluntly.
As the winter approaches and the call of the races next season looms, Pidcock, by the sounds of it, wants to focus on the thing he does best: winning. He doesn’t rule out the possibility of targeting a Grand Tour next year, but admits this is something that he could see further on in his career trajectory. In the near future, aside from the potential of a few cyclo-cross races over the Christmas period (still to be confirmed, according to the Brit) the chaos and cobbles of the Classics and the Ardennes loom. Winning a Monument is also on the top of Pidcock’s bucket list.
“I think I can win more one-day races almost without any development, I love doing them, they’re my kind of races,” Pidcock says. “I want to perform in the Classics and the World Championships next year, they’ll be pretty spectacular in Africa. I can’t really pick one Classic but I will try and peak for that period. I haven’t won a Monument yet, I’ve been close – well, second – but that’s a goal.”
There’s no denying that this season has been a rollercoaster for the British rider: his name has scarcely left the headlines for a multitude of reasons, whether that’s winning Olympic gold or for drama within his team. It’s clear from speaking to Pidcock, though, that being the best bike rider in the world will always be his ultimate goal, no matter the noise going on around him. And based on the determination he’d just put into winning a ping pong ball challenge, it’s clear that it is going to be hard to stop him from doing what he wants.
