The season is gradually beginning to wind down but Pinarello Q36.5 seem to possess no off switch. My chat with team manager Doug Ryder comes sandwiched between victories by Tom Pidcock in GP Industria & Artigianato in Italy and Eddie Dunbar at the Vuelta a España, where Mikel Azparren has also been consistently active in the breakaways.
‘At this time of the year, when there’s a lot of one day races, sometimes you can fall into the trap of only being conservative and focusing on points,’ Ryder says. ‘Sure, maybe they can screw it up and go from fifth to 20th, but we’d rather the emotion, passion, trust, faith, and have riders believing in themselves that they can go for the win.’
The squad are in their fourth year – still relatively in their infancy, with this their first season with a full slate of WorldTour race invitations – but that isn’t holding them back. They made a statement signing adding Tom Pidcock in 2025, with the Brit stepped down to ProTeam level to join them, but it would develop into a match made in heaven. Pidcock thrived immediately and topped off his first season with third overall at the Vuelta, his best Grand Tour finish to date, and a statement of intent for the team against the WorldTour big dogs.
A.S.O./Charly López
‘Before that Vuelta, Pidcock said, “Please, I don’t ever want to hear on the morning of a stage that our objective is not to lose time on GC.” And it’s that thought of every day is an opportunity, every rider has a value, and everyone that supports him, he then wants to support in return,’ Ryder says. ‘It also makes it less arduous to get through a three-week marathon. It’s good to have electricity and fun within the peloton with riders duking it out for their own objectives.’
Their points haul in 2025 ensured they got the call up to their first Tour de France this season, which saw Pidcock race aggressively to ninth overall, bagging a combativity award on an explosive Stage 13 over the Ballon d’Alsace.
‘The Tour de France is big – it’s like eating an elephant, from any side it doesn’t matter – but it’s just so huge,’ says Ryder. ‘A race that never sleeps – you’ve got to be careful of that. We learnt a lot about switching off and trying not to be everything to everyone, because then you can become nothing to yourself.’
Big swings
We’re at the point in the season where most 2026/27 transfers have been confirmed, and Pinarello Q36.5 have been one of the most active teams, with eight new signings announced at the time of writing, including Tour de France stage winner Mauro Schmid, sprinters Pavel Bittner and Tom Crabbe, and Netcompany Ineos’s young American talent AJ August. Vuelta nearlyman Ethan Hayter has also been reported by Daniel Benson to be the team’s ninth addition.
Schmid joins from Jayco AlUla and will be a key figure in their arsenal, with second at La Flèche Wallonne and first at the Coppi e Bartali this season. While Ryder downplays the team’s emphasis on chasing UCI points, Schmid will be a massive part of the team’s quest to become a fully fledged WorldTour team when this promotion and relegation cycle finishes.
Likewise August has been flying in smaller stage races this season, the 20-year-old was victorious at the Czech Tour and sixth at the Tour of Austria, and took stage wins at Valenciana and Itzulia Basque Country.
Should the move materialise, Hayter packs the kind of tenacity that will fit in well with the DNA of the Pinarello Q36.5 squad. Just look at his determination to try for the red jersey in the opening few stages of the Vuelta, even if it didn’t pan out in the end. It’s that ambition that Ryder highlights as a key factor behind so many of their signings.
Tour de France stage winner Mauro Schmid leads Pinarello Q36.5’s litany of new signings for 2027. Xavier Pereyron
‘With the world being so complicated at the moment, people don’t dream anymore because they don’t think there’s anything that they could potentially achieve that is way out there,’ he says. ‘That’s what we really encourage – to dream. We encourage riders to be open and honest about their absolute desire. If they had to stop today, what is the one thing that they would love to be able to say to people that they achieved? Then we try and enable that.
‘Many teams are so under pressure with their leaders and have teams within the team to achieve certain goals. We act slightly differently, which I think is resonating very much with the younger generation. There are riders with massive eyeballs and big dreams, looking to find a home where they feel valued and not just be slaves into the system where they work for someone and don’t get their own opportunities.
‘People want to be a part of this squad. Not only because we have amazing partners and equipment and look really cool, but they also see Tom [Pidcock] and his happiness, they see that he’s relaxed, trusted and valued, and is riding super-well. Riders are looking at us as an opportunity for them to be able to do their best work in. We’re in a sweet spot at the moment, which is very fortunate.
‘Everybody’s treated as an equal. Tom [Pidcock] always says that everything he does and implements through this team has to go to the 27th, 28th, 29th rider because we can only be as successful as each other. He absolutely respects that every individual in the organisation has a value, and that mentality permeates through everybody. He’s got remarkable leadership potential.’
One name that the team were linked with throughout this particular transfer window was 19-year-old French superstar Paul Seixas, who was rumoured to have been offered €13m to join Ryder’s team. While that door appears shut for next season with one year left on his current contract with Decathlon CMA CGM, interest persists.
‘Look, any team is a bit naïve if they if they say they’re not interested in the super-kid from France, and every team is throwing their hat in the ring,’ Ryder says, ‘and there is interest from us as well. You’d be crazy not to have it. He’s a very good kid respecting his current contract. We have to see how it goes next year.’
Eddie Dunbar wins Stage 19 of the Vuelta, the first Grand Tour stage victory for the team. Angel Camarena
Ryder insists new signings won’t mean a change to the culture. This is not a team fixated on building seasons solely around Grand Tour GC fights – although they’re not against giving that a go – they want to be aggressive across all terrain, not a ‘one-trick pony’.
‘We want to be a team that’s exciting and multi-diverse and dynamic. We have many facets to us and we want to win races, be good in the Classics, Monuments and Grand Tours.’
They already have a strong base for one-day success too. Just this year, Quinten Hermans came second at De Brabantse Pijl, Aimé De Gendt finished fifth at Omloop Nieuwsblad, Walter Calzoni raced to sixth at the Tour de Hongrie, and Fred Wright became the British Road Race Champion. The aforementioned Azparren was relentless at the Vuelta, frequently kicking away at the head of the race and notching a sixth place in a fast finish on Stage 10, while Dunbar grabbed the team’s first ever Grand Tour stage win with a fantastic measured finish atop Peñas Blancas.
Pinarello Q36.5 are hungry, but the victories aren’t the be all and end all, even with the pressure of the promotion and relegation system.
‘It keeps you on your toes, keeps everyone engaged and focused, and keeps the riders on target. We would always ultimately go for the win, even if it could hurt us from a points perspective. That’s our culture here,’ Ryder says.
With the death of Finlay Tarling at the Volta a Portugal just before the Vuelta fresh on the mind, I asked Ryder if he believed his riders were as safe as they could be. He recalled riding at the Tour of Britain when a motorcyclist, who was there to protect the riders, was hit by a car. ‘It’s a complex world that we live in, where time is precious and people are just not patient anymore,’ he says. ‘While training, our riders are on open roads and every day it gets more hectic. We tell them, irrespective of if you’re in a race situation or not, just be acutely aware of your surroundings and have all your six senses on high alert. Keep your wits about you and look after yourself as much as possible.’
Doug Ryder (right) at the team’s debut Tour in 2026. Matteo Cavazzuti/Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling
The Qhubeka legacy
Ryder has years of experience in team management. The South African from Cape Town has long placed emphasis on representation of his countrymen at the highest level, founding and formerly the general manager for MTB Qhubeka, Africa’s only WorldTour team, later known as Dimension Data and Qhuebeka NextHash before they folded in 2021.
‘My personal desire right in the beginning was to take an African team to the Tour de France with Black African riders in it to see if it was possible, and we did that. I saw what it meant to individuals that had never thought it was possible to reach the highest levels in sport,’ he says. ‘When I see a rider that punches above their weight, that doesn’t put a ceiling on their head and they go above and beyond what they thought was possible… that for me, every little story, every one of those individuals that’s been able to achieve that through what we’ve been able to set up and put in place for them, that’s cool. That’s a legacy that you can leave. I love human development, opportunity and potential. It gives me a great feeling.’
At the WorldTour level, there are currently five African men and two African women racing, with South Africa, Eritrea and Mauritius represented. A step down to ProTeam level sees that number increase with a further four men from South Africa, Eritrea and Mauritius.
‘It all starts with a hero. In the beginning we had Daniel Teklehaimanot and now there’s Biniam Girmay, who was 13 years old when he was watching Teklehaimanot at the Tour de France in a bioscope. That started a dream, creating this belief that there was an opportunity.
‘From an African perspective, [the numbers] are a lot to do with federations, organisations, and creating events, having local teams that youngsters can look up to individuals that then can take them to the next level and into Europe. There’s also the safety aspect too. In South Africa, the roads are quite hectic and busy, and that’s why mountain biking is growing big time on the continent because it’s a bit safer. There are a lot of mountain bikers whose parents didn’t want them on the road, who are now converting to road.
‘Having more African riders in the WorldTour does come from an organisational level, but I think Girmay is doing a great job. He’s an inspiration and a hero across the continent, and everybody wants to be like him, which is brilliant.
‘It just takes a little bit more investment and local energy. Maybe one day when I’m done with being involved with pro teams, I’ll try and organise a good racing circuit across Africa to get more young talent through. That’ll be something I can look in to.’
As for Ryder’s current focus, the last few races of the 2026 season are fast approaching. After the World Championships in Canada comes a litany of one-day tests in Italy followed by the Tour of Guangxi to close out the year. It’s been a fruitful 2026 already for Pinarello Q36.5, but they’re not done yet: ‘I’ll be at Lombardia and I think there’s a nice opportunity for us as a team at the race. Let’s hope our boys do some good things over the next few weeks.’