Published August 26, 2022 02:40AM
Tom Pidcock: 'There's a good chance I can win the Tour de France in my career'
Pidcock revs up for push at MTB world title Sunday while he mulls big things as grand tour classification contender.
LONGWY, FRANCE - JULY 07: Thomas Pidcock of United Kingdom and Team INEOS Grenadiers prior to the 109th Tour de France 2022, Stage 6 a 219,9km stage from Binche to Longwy 377m / #TDF2022 / #WorldTour / on July 07, 2022 in Longwy, France. (Photo by Tim de Waele/Getty Images) (Photo: Getty Images)
Tom Pidcock is revving up for a push at the mountain bike cross country world title Sunday, but he’s got other plans on his mind, too.
The multi-discipline Brit is looking to go a level up after winning a stage of the Tour de France this summer.
“There’s a good chance I can win the Tour de France in my career,” Pidcock told BBC Radio 4 on Friday morning. “I believe I can, and so far, everything I believed I can achieve, I have achieved.”
Pidcock blasted hard out of the gate at his rookie Tour last month. The 23-year-old wrote history by becoming the youngest ever stage winner atop Alpe d’Huez and landed in the top 20 in Paris.
Tongues started wagging soon afterward at what Pidcock could do in future editions of the Tour.
“I’m ambitious, I’m here to learn, and I’ve learned a hell of a lot,” he said after his breakaway victory. “I think I have bigger ambitions in this race in the future for sure after this experience.”
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Also read: Ineos Grenadiers to let Pidcock ‘keep following his ambition’ after Tour triumph
Pidcock’s trainer believes his protegee has the skillset to ride into yellow, and Ineos Grenadiers is willing to let him stretch his wings in any direction in a contract that stretches far forward into 2027.
Rainbows in Les Gets?
But the mountain bike world championships comes far before the Tour returns next summer.
Pidcock lines up Sunday as the top favorite for the Les Gets championships, hot off the back of crushing the European cross-country race in Munich last weekend.
After winning Olympic MTB gold last summer and cyclocross rainbows in the winter, the MTB world title is just the next hurdle Pidcock is looking to leap.
The road worlds in Wollongong next month mark the finish line of Pidcock’s push to win the rainbow jersey in all three disciplines in one season.
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“Time passes so fast in the cycling world, there’s always something else. The only thing I stopped to let soak in is the Olympics,” Pidcock told the BBC. “There’s two more world championships this year so I haven’t stopped to look back yet.”