However it has also been a great risk for Q36.5. The Swiss team immediately gained extra recognition in the cycling echelons with Pidcock in their ranks, but they spent a lot of money on a rider who didn’t have a history of delivering the adequate results on regular basis. “He’s only won four big races before he signed at Q36.5. So how was it gonna go?”
As it turns out, Q36.5 had made a genius move. “With that drama when you leave a team under the kind of conditions that Tom Pidcock left INEOS, you’re fired up during the wintertime to be training and come in firing on all cylinders, so you can start winning and just throw it in their faces,” Horner points out.
Tadej Pogacar and Tom Pidcock were they main animators of the 2025 Strade Bianche
Lesson at tactics
What has been less ideal in Horner’s opinion was the tactical aspect of the way Pidcock and Q36.5 approached some race scenarios. Without the strongest support team around himself, Pidcock often threw himself into the heat of battle, only to find himself isolated at the front of the race.
One part is blaming Pidcock’s rider instinct, but his sports directors also need to take the reins and sometimes slow down their star’s ambitions, for example when he decides to work together with Tadej Pogacar at Strade Bianche with 80km to go…
Impressive leap in consistency
Pidcock’s uprise in 2025 can therefore be attributed to many factors. Horner points improved consistency across the season as one of those: “He has shown that he has better form throughout the 25 season than he did in the 24 season. And certainly for a longer period.”
“I think when we take the four years at INEOS, at times he’s had the same peak kind of form, but the problem that Pidcock’s always had is how do you hold that peak form for longer periods, so you can get results over a month period, or two or three month period…”
“He has done a remarkable job of upping his consistency from the 4 previous years at INEOS and adding in a little bit more flair and bringing in some more wins, but again, still missing some big wins,” Horner concludes, pointing out that Pidcock would have under normal circumstances won the 11th stage of Vuelta a Espana in a sprint against Jonas Vingegaard, had the stage finish not been cancelled due to protests.