Tom Pidcock has his eyes set on both the Tour de France and defending his Olympic mountain bike cross-country title from Tokyo, despite there only being eight days between the end of the Tour and the XCO event at Paris 2024.
The multi-disciplinary Ineos Grenadiers star spoke to Red Bull’s Just Ride podcast while in Canada for the final round of racing at the MTB World Cup, stating that the points gained in North America could aid his run into next year’s Tour and the hectic summer schedule.
“Next year, I want to go and defend my title at the Olympics, but I also need as many points as I can get,” said Pidcock. “But also I’ve got to balance that with the team, and they need me, want me at the Tour, so I have to be there and be my best at the Tour, and I have eight days between the end of the Tour and the Olympics.
“Doing these races now sets me up better for next year because I won’t have to go to the mountain bike races in the spring.
“Hopefully I should come out of the Tour in a better condition, meaning that in eight days I can be ready. It’s going to be on the limit, it’s not going to be easy, but I’m giving myself the best chance.”
Pidcock also reflected on his second Tour de France campaign, which wasn’t quite as successful as his debut year in 2021 where he took a historic win atop L’Alpe d’Huez, again dropping out of GC contention after heatstroke on stage 14 and finishing 13th overall.
“During the Tour, I had too many goals with GC and trying to win a stage so I kind of came away with nothing,” said Pidcock. “I learned a lot but it wasn’t very enjoyable because I didn’t feel like I got anything out of it I could show for.”
Pidcock did have success in 2023 with a brilliant solo win at Strade Bianche where he got his road season off to a flying start, but subsequent crashes, saddle sores and a bout with concussion got in the way of his objectives in sprint and summer. But he was pleased with his overall progress and another year of learning in the WorldTour.
“I think I made a big step this year on the road general which is good and then I won MTB Worlds which was my biggest goal of the year actually,” said Pidcock. “My characteristics are very much [suited to] the big championships like Worlds as I’m very good at peaking.
“Of course, I want to try and win the Tour de France one day but I think this is probably going to be the big job for me because the patience side of it is quite difficult.”
Pidcock, talented across a number of disciplines and parcours,…
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