{"id":410882,"date":"2026-02-06T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410882\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:00:09","slug":"tom-pidcock-equipped-with-an-armada-of-teammates-returns-to-finish-his-business-at-vuelta-a-andalucia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410882\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Pidcock, equipped with an armada of teammates, returns to finish his business at Vuelta a Andaluc\u00eda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After last year\u2019s podium, <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/tom-pidcock\" title=\"Tom Pidcock\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tom Pidcock<\/a> will return to the Ruta del Sol &#8211; Vuelta Ciclista a Andaluc\u00eda aiming to be in the thick of the action again. The mountain-bike Olympic champion will lead Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling in the Andalusian race starting in less than two weeks on February 18 in Benahav\u00eds, backed by his UCI ranking and the third place he secured in the previous edition.<\/p>\n<p>The British rider tackles the race for a second year running as one of the favourites. In 2025 he animated the event, won the stage finishing in Torredelcampo (Ja\u00e9n), and fought a fierce general classification battle with Pavel Sivakov (UAE), who ultimately took the yellow jersey. Pidcock finished third, close to the winner, in a contest that could well be renewed this season.<\/p>\n<p>Pinarello Q36.5 assembled a solid, versatile squad to support its leader. Among the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclinguptodate.com\/cycling\/q365-pro-cycling-add-even-more-firepower-with-a-signing-of-a-powerful-diesel\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">standout names is Belgian Xandro Meurisse<\/a> (34), an experienced attacker, regular in long breakaways and effective in reduced sprints. That was the formula behind his win at the Vuelta a Murcia 2020. It will be his second appearance in Andaluc\u00eda, after debuting in 2017 with Wanty.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Alongside him is Briton Fred Wright (26), a powerful rouleur with multiple top 10s in top-tier classics such as the Tour of Flanders, Paris\u2013Roubaix, and Milano\u2013Sanremo. His sharp finish, honed on the track &#8211; he was European U23 madison champion &#8211; makes him dangerous in selective finales, a scenario that matches several finishes on this year\u2019s route.<\/p>\n<p>Q36.5 line-up for Vuelta a Andaluc\u00eda<\/p>\n<p>The line-up also features Quinten Hermans (30), making his race debut. The Belgian boasts a stage win at Itzulia Basque Country and second place at Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge in 2022, results that underline his consistency on demanding terrain.<\/p>\n<p>The seven is completed by Dutchman Milan Vader (29), winner of the Tour of Guangxi and another debutant at the Ruta del Sol; Belgian Brent Van Moer (28), set for his second Vuelta a Andaluc\u00eda and a stage winner at the 2022 Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9; and Pole Kamil Malecki (30), returning after racing the 2022 edition with Lotto Soudal. We\u2019ll see what they can deliver at a spectacular Vuelta a Andaluc\u00eda 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"280\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pidcock-698517e520f2d.jpg@webp.webp\" class=\"w-auto h-auto\" alt=\"Tom Pidcock finished on Vuelta podium last year\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tom Pidcock finished on Vuelta podium last year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After last year\u2019s podium, Tom Pidcock will return to the Ruta del Sol &#8211; Vuelta Ciclista a Andaluc\u00eda&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,148137,101,44575,56,54,55,145449],"class_list":["post-410882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-pinarello-q36-5-pro-cycling-team","tag-sports","tag-tom-pidcock","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vuelta-a-andalucia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}