The next chapter of Tom Pidcock's 2025 season with Q36.5 will see him take on the Vuelta a España, where he will eye a top 10 GC finish, but this means he will miss out on a potential duel with Mathieu van der Poel at the Mountain Bike World Championships in September.
Pidcock said it was "a shame" that he wouldn't get to battle against the Dutchman, with the third week of the Vuelta overlapping with MTB Worlds. Q36.5 team was awarded a wildcard entry for a second Grand Tour this year, so Pidcock will race on the road in Spain rather on World Championship dirt in Switzerland.
Pidcock and Van der Poel are two of the best multi-discipline riders in the peloton, so comparisons have naturally followed Pidcock, which he spoke about in depth in a recent interview with De Telegraaf.
"He's among the world's best, and that's why I enjoy racing against him. Yes, I might have victories he'd like to have, but Mathieu is far ahead of me in terms of major road victories," Pidcock told the Dutch newspaper.
"He's won eight monuments and world titles in three different disciplines: cyclocross, gravel, and the best of all: road. I'd really love to win the latter.
"There are similarities in some ways. I think we both enjoy cycling intuitively, a bit more playfully. I don't just look at numbers. Of course, we're different athletes – I'm smaller and lighter, much more of a climber. Mathieu is one of the great Classics specialists."
Van der Poel has tried to tack on mountain bike appearances to the end or midway through successful road seasons in recent years, notably at the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and 2023 World Championships in Scotland.
Crashes and a lack of form have seen him miss out and lose to the likes of Pidcock, who included more mountain biking in his calendar in those years. Even Van der Poel's most recent appearance in the discipline ended in disaster, with a double crash at the Nové Město World Cup, resulting in a broken wrist.
"Mathieu might not be having the best time on the mountain bike, but if he sets his mind to something, you know he'll eventually succeed," said Pidcock.
Van der Poel hasn't yet confirmed his presence at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Crans-Montana but is returning to racing, for the first time since pulling out of the Tour with pneumonia, at a Dutch criterium this Sunday.
"It's a shame [to miss MTB Worlds], because I would have loved to participate, especially to battle Mathieu," added Pidcock.
"But I want to focus more on the road, and our team is in a state of rebuilding. So it makes sense for me to ride the Vuelta."
The Vuelta will be Pidcock's second Grand Tour of the season, after riding well at the Giro, but narrowly missing out on a stage win and only finishing 16th. The Q36.5 rider is hoping for more in a GC bid in Spain.
"In Spain, I want to try to finish close to the general classification. My time trial still needs to improve a lot, but maybe I can aim for a top ten," said Pidcock.
He went on to talk about the difficult prospect of winning one of cycling's three-week Grand Tours.
"That would be fantastic, but winning a Grand Tour is the hardest thing in the world for me. I know what it's like to win a one-day race, but a Grand Tour? Phew, that's a different story."
Still a young rider at only 26, the same age as Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Pidcock wants the latter half of his 20s to bring greater success on the road, in a similar vein to how Van der Poel and Wout van Aert have continued to succeed into their thirties.
"I already feel old at this age. As a child, you dream of achieving things, and suddenly you're 26," said Pidcock.
"But hey, riders like Mathieu and Wout van Aert have achieved so many great victories after this age.
"Now I'm entering that phase of my life, and hopefully, like them, I can reap the rewards in the big races."
Pidcock's most recent performance at the Arctic Race of Norway saw him take an impressive stage victory and only miss out on the GC win behind Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech).
His next appearance will be at the Vuelta, which kicks off in Turin on Saturday August 23.
