'I made the most of it' - Tom Pidcock admits late Giro d'Italia wildcard decision affected his race

Tom Pidcock has closed the book on the first half of his debut season with Q36.5, rounding it out with a 16th place overall at the Giro d'Italia, his first-ever outing at the Italian Grand Tour.

The British rider started his year out strong with an overall win at the AlUla Tour and a podium at the Vuelta a Andalucía, also collecting podiums at Strade Bianche, La Flèche Wallonne and two stages of Tirreno-Adriatico.

He headed to Albania for the Giro's Grande Partenza with ambitions "to win and to just race every day hard." He was on the attack several times during the race but didn't eventually come away with a stage win.

25-year-old Pidcock took three top-five placings at the Giro, including a third behind Mads Pedersen in Matera on stage 5, but with 45 race days in his legs come the end of the race, he admitted that it had been a long first half of 2025 and said it's now time for a break.

"It's been a long block, to be honest," he told Cyclingnews on Sunday. "Starting with a new team, you know it's always going to be difficult. I think the motivation was super high to start really well, which I did.

"The big goal was Milan-San Remo. I crashed there and was a bit unlucky. From there, I was holding on a bit, trying to keep the form I had."

Pidcock's Q36.5 team only learned they'd be racing the Giro at the end of March, with wildcards handed out much later than usual as organisers awaited UCI approval to add an extra team to the start list.

That delay, not knowing his future plans, had a major effect on preparation, Pidcock admitted.

"When you start so hot – even in January camp, I was really good – it's a long time to hold [form] until now. But when you get an opportunity to ride the Giro, even if it's late notice, you give what you can," he said.

In an interview with The Times on Thursday, Pidcock spoke about his experience on stage 19 of the Giro, which tackled a quartet of high Alpine passes.

He battled to make the breakaway and raid the overall top 10, but "blew myself up in the heat", a mistake with his relative lack of dedicated preparation, he admitted.

"On the second climb, the group were going quite a lot faster. I just went for it, and the first time I went pretty hard, trying to get in that breakaway. It was the first day in the heat. I'm good in the heat when I'm prepared, but not when I'm not," Pidcock said.

"I didn't really have the preparation. No altitude training or anything, and coming from the Ardennes races... it is very different to all the other GC guys. I mean, we only found out we were coming a few weeks before the race. It doesn't give us the best chance. But I can say I made the most of it."

Pidcock said that stage 9 on Tuscany's strade bianche was "the day" for him, a suitable aim given he's a former winner of the WorldTour one-day race. But bad luck, including a crash and two punctures, put paid to any plans on a stage win, with a 15th place finish as his end result.

"The Strade stage was the day, but it didn't go all to plan, some bad luck. I think when you're getting a bit tired and the decision that you make, you make your own luck," Pidcock told Cyclingnews.

"I think when everything is perfect and when you're fresh in the head, it all goes well. I think it's time for a little break and hopefully come back fighting in the second half of the year."

'I have more of a kind of responsibility to give my best even when I'm not going to win'

Later in the Giro as the race hit the Alps, he faded from 11th overall on stage 14 to 16th in Rome.

His move on stage 19 to Champoluc didn't come off, while stage 20's arduous ascent of the Colle delle Finestre, the launchpad for his countryman Simon Yates' Giro-winning raid, also took its toll.

"What Yates did was pretty phenomenal. The speed they went at the last climb was incredible. I did my best-ever hour in terms of power and was seven minutes behind," Pidcock told the Times.

"The thing is, for me, I've never raced up an hour-long climb before. And I've never trained for an hour-long effort. So, it's a big area that I haven't touched, and, obviously, if I ever want to podium a Grand Tour, I need to get much better at that.

"I think if I do manage to ever win a Grand Tour or get on the podium, it would be one of the biggest achievements ever."

Pidcock said he's been "stuck between a rock and a hard place" during his recent Grand Tour participations, calling the races a "difficult point for me". His next attempt will come at the Vuelta a España later this season, following a well-earned break after the Giro.

He said he'll discuss a plan with his team, with both he and Q36.5 having a lot more time to prepare for the trip to Spain, in contrast to the build-up to May.

"We have a lot more time. I want to sit down with the team and figure out where the gaps are and what I want to do. At the end of the day, I like having success – winning. If that means just going only for stages and targeting those, so be it."

Having admitted at the start of the Giro that he's "started enjoying cycling" with Q36.5 following his move from Ineos Grenadiers. He also has a different role at the ProTeam, with the Swiss squad looking to him to get results.

"I have more of a kind of responsibility to give my best even when I'm not going to win. And it's something that I've always struggled with. I go for big results, or I don't care," he said.

"Now it's a little bit different. I'm not doing it for me anymore, but I do it for everyone who's working hard and believes in me and works hard for me. I owe it to them."