{"id":382399,"date":"2025-12-31T10:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T10:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382399\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T10:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T10:45:11","slug":"i-suggested-we-make-trophies-out-of-tinfoil-the-inside-story-of-the-car-park-vuelta-a-espana-podium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/382399\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I suggested we make trophies out of tinfoil’: The inside story of the car-park Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a podium"},"content":{"rendered":"

When pro-Palestine protestors<\/a> forced the early abandonment of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>\u2019s final stage in September \u2013 the fourth stage of the race to be curtailed \u2013 it triggered a chain reaction. In the weeks that followed, Israel-Premier Tech<\/a>, the focus of the protests, backtracked on earlier assurances and announced a new name and nationality, accepting that their future in the sport was untenable without change. The immediate consequence, however, was the cancellation of the podium ceremony for the GC top-three and the jersey winners.<\/p>\n

Race victor Jonas Vingegaard<\/a> was understandably peeved. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s shit to end it like this,\u201d he muttered inside a Visma-Lease a Bike<\/a> car, in footage later shown in the team\u2019s post-race documentary. It seemed as though everyone would simply drift away \u2013 an anticlimactic conclusion to 21 tense, turbulent days.<\/p>\n

That was until Tom Pidcock<\/a>\u2019s mum, Sonja, stepped in with other ideas, laying the groundwork for what became the most spontaneous and intimate Grand Tour celebration in history \u2013 or, as social media later declared it, the best podium ceremony of all time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Tom\n<\/p>\n

Tom Pidcock with his mum Sonja in Madrid<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Sonja Harper)<\/p>\n

Sonja and her husband Giles were in Madrid ready to celebrate their son\u2019s third-placed finish in the race. When it became apparent that that wouldn\u2019t be happening as planned, Sonja spoke with Q36.5\u2019s billionaire owner Ivan Glasenberg at the team\u2019s hotel. \u201cI said to Ivan, \u2018This isn\u2019t fair \u2013 these young men have put all this effort in and have been robbed of their glory\u2019,\u201d Sonja, who organises the Otley Cycle Races, recounts to Cycling Weekly. \u201cI told him we should organise a podium.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Glasenberg nodded along, but wasn\u2019t following what Sonja was suggesting. \u201cIvan said that they were all going to dinner that night and that everyone was invited including us. I said to him again, \u2018But, Ivan, let\u2019s invite all the teams and make a podium together\u2019. Then he got it and said, \u2018That\u2019s a great idea!\u2019 I said to him, \u2018I\u2019ll organise it for you, but I don\u2019t have a good contact list except [photographer] Russ Ellis\u2019s phone number\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Q36.5 boss now fully on board with Sonja\u2019s plans, he rang Visma\u2019s manager Richard Plugge<\/a>, who was immediately enthusiastic. Within minutes, Plugge had set up a WhatsApp group comprising all the relevant teams, and convened a hotel car park meeting with his team\u2019s staff who took on responsibility as ceremony organisers. \u201cIf it works, it\u2019s a good conclusion for everyone, and a picture for history,\u201d Plugge said, as recorded in the aforementioned documentary. \u201cAnd if not, then we tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Plugge was busy organising the guest list, Visma\u2019s chief business officer Jasper Saeijs was put in charge of logistics. \u201cI said, if we do this, we have to do it right,\u201d Saeijs recalls to Cycling Weekly. \u201cWe were never going to have the same quality as the real celebration, but everyone who had made the Vuelta special deserved some kind of celebration.\u201d The first thing he had to do was to tell a downcast Vingegaard that he would get the chance to celebrate. \u201cJonas was already in his normal clothes, and I told him he had to change into his cycling clothing and prepare for a ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Joao\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Phone calls were made to the race organisers, who confirmed that someone was on their way with the trophies, jerseys and podium backdrop \u2013 and were promptly snarled up in congestion in the centre of Madrid. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know if they\u2019d be able to make it past the protesters and get to us in time,\u201d Saeijs says. Pidcock\u2019s mum came up with a contingency plan. \u201cIf the Vuelta organisers couldn\u2019t make it, I suggested we go to the hotel kitchen and make trophies out of tinfoil!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully the podium essentials arrived and Saeijs and his team then set about creating the scene. \u201cWe needed the backdrop in place, so we attached it to a rental minivan,\u201d Saeijs says. Only one problem: it wasn\u2019t tall enough. \u201cWe needed it to be higher, so I asked one of the mechanics what he thought. We were brainstorming a few ideas and then he said, \u2018We have some poles that we can put on top of the car.\u201d According to Sonja, these were in fact traffic cones. \u201cThey attached the backdrop to traffic cones on top of a van,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIt was a bit wonky, but they straightened it out and in the end it looked amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the podium steps, Visma coolboxes of varying heights took on a new function. \u201cWe wrote one, two and three on them using a black Sharpie pen,\u201d recounts Saeijs. Those scribbled letters later became the most-talked about aspect of the ceremony on social media.<\/p>\n

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With the stage set but darkness descending, attention focused on lighting the rushed-together spectacle. \u201cWe parked three of our team cars in front of the podium with their headlights on, but too many people were in the way, so we couldn\u2019t see the podium,\u201d Saeijs says.<\/p>\n

Sonja, watching on in admiration as her idea took shape in an hour, policed the crowd, which was swelling with riders and staff from other teams. \u201cI put my bossy race organiser head on and was saying to people, \u2018Excuse me, stand over there!\u2019\u201d Relief arrived in the form of TV Denmark, whose crew \u2013 glued to Vingegaard throughout the race \u2013 offered something far better than car headlights. \u201cThey follow Jonas everywhere, and they let us use their stage lights,\u201d Saeijs says.<\/p>\n

But the atmosphere still needed one final ingredient. \u201cYou need music to lighten up any party,\u201d Saeijs insists. Enter Thijs Roelen, Visma press officer turned impromptu DJ. \u201cHe decided on Eye of the Tiger for the entrance of the riders,\u201d Saeijs confirms.<\/p>\n

There was also the small matter of playing the right anthem for Vingegaard, although even that proved surprisingly complicated. \u201cDenmark has two types of national anthems, and in the morning the race organisers had asked us to help them in choosing the right anthem to play,\u201d Saeijs says. \u201cThankfully we had researched it before so we already knew which one was the correct one and we downloaded it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"The\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Sonja Harper)<\/p>\n

Everything set, the moment then came for the car park ceremony to begin. Visma sourced some champagne and spectators handed round beer and pizza \u2013 but then, yet another delay. \u201cUAE won the team prize but they were apparently reluctant to join in at first,\u201d Sonja says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they found that Mads Pedersen [green jersey] and Matthew Riccitello [white jersey] were coming, they realised they couldn\u2019t turn it down. They still turned up 30 minutes late, mind you.\u201d When UAE finally arrived \u2013 their star rider Jo\u00e3o Almeida had finished second on GC \u2013 the party finally got underway.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso funny was that the race organiser who\u2019d brought the backdrop, jerseys and trophies didn\u2019t know the protocol of the ceremony, so we had to be creative with how we did it,\u201d Saeijs remembers. \u201cWe said that the GC would go first, then the team prize, and then the jerseys. It was really improvised, and in five minutes we\u2019d decided on the order.\u201d Master of ceremonies was selected almost at random, Sonja remembers: \u201cHe was a guy who wasn’t used to commentating, and he was naming all the riders quietly without any microphone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moment was captured on smartphones by the hundred or so people gathered, a uniquely improvised celebration pulled together at speed and destined to linger in the memory of everyone who witnessed it. At one point, Sonja noticed Vingegaard looking straight at her. \u201cI\u2019d never met Jonas before, but when he got off the Visma bus in his kit, he was looking across the car park smiling at me. I pointed him out to Giles, and I realised that Jonas was probably the only mum-minded person there. Richard must have told him that it was Tom\u2019s mum\u2019s idea and he was saying thank you to me. It was really lovely, really sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Jonas\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Bram Berkien\/Team Visma | Lease a Bike)<\/p>\n

Balanced on an upturned coolbox, Vingegaard beamed with amused delight. \u201cAt first I was disappointed not to get the celebration in Madrid, but fortunately we could make our own celebration and it was a really nice moment, really special,\u201d he said in his team\u2019s documentary. \u201cIt shows how, in cycling, even though we\u2019re competitors, we can still get everyone together and celebrate in a nice way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vuelta\u2019s organisers hope the whole episode remains a one-off, with a return next year to a full-scale finale of spotlights and fireworks in front of thousands of fans. If not, Sonja Pidcock stands ready to help again. \u201cI\u2019d like to do it again for my own benefit but I\u2019m not sure it\u2019ll wash,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I wanted to do was to applaud and give my son a hug, but in the end everyone created a fabulous moment. If it was in Madrid, it would have been immense, but they would have celebrated in front of thousands of strangers, and we wouldn\u2019t have got a look-in. As it happened, the riders got to celebrate with the people most important to them, and you could tell by the smiles on their faces that they were so delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

This feature originally appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 18 December 2025. Subscribe now<\/a> and never miss an issue.<\/p>\n

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\nVuelta a Espa\u00f1a
\n<\/a>
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\nTom Pidcock
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When pro-Palestine protestors forced the early abandonment of the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a\u2019s final stage in September \u2013 the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-382399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}