Tom Pidcock has opened up about his future goals, pencilling in a date for retirement and weighing up his chances of winning a Grand Tour.
The Briton is currently preparing for his first Tour de France with Pinarello-Q36.5, his first Tour participation since he abandoned due to COVID-19 two years ago.
Since then, he’s achieved the best Grand Tour result of his career with third place at last year’s Vuelta a España, raising hopes that he could one day add a Grand Tour to his palmarès.
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“The Grand Tour thing doesn’t really excite me so much, but it’s an achievement,” Pidcock told The Guardian newspaper.
“If I manage to win a Grand Tour, it will be the biggest achievement in my career, because for me to concentrate for three weeks is difficult.
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“Everything I’ve ever achieved in my career, I’ve always imagined doing it first before I’ve done it. I’ve never done anything out of the blue, like magic. So having that stepping stone, I know I can be on the podium again.”
Pidcock would be going up against GC favourites Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard in France, as well as French phenom Paul Seixas and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe duo of Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel.
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“I’m not saying that I have the ability right now to beat Tadej and Seixas and Vingegaard. But in the right situation, I can see it happening. And with the right situation, I can win a Grand Tour,” he said.
Whatever Pidcock does this summer, or indeed in any future Grand Tour, he still has plenty of other goals on his mind, and a good idea of when he wants to achieve them.
“I want to win the Road Worlds. Then I will have won all three disciplines. And the Gravel Worlds, actually, but if that never happens, I’m not so bothered,” he said.
“I want a Monument. And for sure, I’m going for three Olympic medals. My goal is to finish my career after five Olympics, so after the 2036 Olympic Games, I’ll retire.”