Tom Pidcock is currently off the grid, training at altitude in Sierra Nevada with his Pinarello-Q36.5 teammates, laying the foundations and building the vital blocks of form and mental fortitude for the Tour de France.
His public Instagram account has gone quiet, and his beloved dachshund dogs are with his partner. Pidcock is focused on his training and preparing for the Tour, his first since 2024, where he will target the overall classification, but while also trying to enjoy the GC process.
"The first goal is to enjoy the Tour de France," his long-time coach, confidant and Head of Performance at Pinarello-Q36.5 Kurt Bogaerts told Cyclingnews.
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"We all know Tom's contrasting emotions about riding for the GC in Grand Tours. But I think he got a lot of satisfaction from riding the Vuelta and finishing third overall last year."
Pidcock finished third overall, 3:11 down on Jonas Vingegaard and less than two minutes down on João Almeida. The 2025 Vuelta was disrupted by Pro-Palestine protests, but was a typically demanding three-week race, and Pidcock showed his Grand Tour potential.
"He was in the game on a daily basis and he had daily goals," Bogaerts said.
"The first goal was not losing time, the second was to try to win a stage and he went really close to that. The third goal: the GC, happened at the same time, while Tom was enjoying himself. We're going to try to do the same at this year's Tour."
Pidcock last raced on the road at the Eschborn-Frankfurt one-day race in Germany on May 1. Before that, he was a close second to Tadej Pogačar at Milan-San Remo, crashed into a ravine at Volta a Catalunya and injured his knee, but returned to racing with a stage win at the Tour of the Alps.
He won the Nové Město Mountain Bike World Cup race on May 24, as he transitioned from spring to summer and into his training for the Tour de France.
"He always has a nice vibe and good energy when he gets home from a mountain bike race," Bogaerts suggested.
"It's not part of a recovery block because he still makes a big effort, but mentally it gives him good recovery stimulus."
Pidcock went straight to altitude from Nové Město and will return to racing at the five-day Tour de Suisse, which begins on June 17. Eight Pinarello-Q36.5 teammates are with him in Sierra Nevada, with a long list of 14 riders under consideration for the final eight Tour de France places.
Pidcock is arguably not a podium contender for this year's Tour, but he recently told The Guardian newspaper that a Grand Tour victory is perhaps achievable. It is often forgotten that he dominated the 2020 Giro Next Gen stage race.
"If I manage to win a Grand Tour, it will be the biggest achievement in my career, because for me to concentrate for three weeks is difficult," Pidcock said.
"Everything I've ever achieved in my career, I've always imagined doing it first before I've done it. I've never done anything out of the blue, like magic. So having that stepping stone, I know I can be on the podium again."
Bogaerts and Pidcock have created a series of stepping-stone goals for the 2026 Tour.
"We don't have a specific race plan, but we've set some goals. We would like to have a similar kind of approach as we had for the Vuelta," Bogaerts said.
"Tom told me that he wants to try to be in the best fitness at the start of the Tour. Then, day by day, try to go for a stage win when the stages suit him."
"His last result in the Tour was 13th in 2023. If he could get into the top 10 on GC, that, for me, would be a good progression. Then with Tom, we always know that he can do better than anyone expects. Tom likes to win; that's always important for him. Hopefully, we can win a stage in the Tour as well as ride a good GC.
"We want to build momentum in the next few weeks. Perhaps he can win something in Suisse, and then win something in the Tour, and then build on that on a daily basis. I think that's a healthy goal."
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