Stage-winner Soler back in the headlines after reports of family links to notorious dope doctor, Pidcock comes out of gates hot in ambitious 2026 season.
(Photo: Pinarello-Q36.5 + Getty)
Updated February 13, 2026 09:32AM
Tom Pidcock finished third behind a UAE Emirates 1-2 on Friday as he debuted a season pointing directly at the Tour de France.
The Brit launched a late chase behind the rampaging Marc Soler and his following teammate Julius Johansen at the Vuelta a Murcia in what’s his warm-up for bigger goals at the gravelly Clásica Jaén and Ruta del Sol stage race.
Soler won the stage in his typical swashbuckling fashion, peeling away from an attack loaded with UAE Emirates-XRG muscle in a wind-shortened stage across southeastern Spain.
The 32-year-old’s sensational solo comes amid a tricky week for the UAE Emirates racer and his family.
Escape Collective and AS reported this week that Soler’s father, an amateur triathlete, has allegedly been working with Pepe Martí. The Spanish trainer is currently serving a ban from working with athletes after he was proven to have a role in the US Postal doping scandals.
Pidcock didn’t get the “W” on Friday but said he was more than happy with his form after he pushed for his team to take an unconventional training camp in Chile this winter.
“We struggled with our radios a bit. When Tim [Wellens, UAE] attacked, I was taking a gel and then it was a bit late, and in front they’d gone,” Pidcock told reporters at the finish. “In the end, it was so fast you can’t bring back this time gap. They [UAE] did a perfect race really.
“But I’m pretty happy with my legs and how I felt in the end,” he said. “I can’t complain too much, we got outsmarted today.”
From Chile to the Tour de France for Pidcock and Pinarello-Q36.5
Pidcock and Pinarello-Q36.5 is shooting for the stars after arrival of new partner in 2026.
Pidcock will race an ambitious program with his newly renamed Pinarello-Q36.5 squad in 2026.
After early racing in Spain, the 26-year-old heads to the Italian and Ardennes classics before he leads Q36.5 into its Tour de France debut.
After placing third last year at the Vuelta a España, Pidcock said he plans to take a new mindset into the Tour this July.
“My main goal is to go there and have fun and enjoy it, and I think that will bring success,” Pidcock told The Observer. “Obviously, we’re going to have to train our balls off.”
Pidcock has a tumultuous relationship with the Tour that began with a bombastic stage win on debut in 2022 and ended with a race “he didn’t enjoy” and did not finish in 2024.
“When you’re competing just to stay in the top 10, I struggle to find the motivation to do that and have to battle with that for three weeks,” Pidcock told The Observer this week. “It’s just draining.
“I think if we can go and enjoy the stress of the Tour, then that will help change my mindset back to how it should be.”
The Vuelta a Murcia concludes Saturday with another lumpy stage across the small Spanish community.
After placing 5 riders in the top-10 with a mass attack on stage 1, it’s UAE’s to lose.