It was nothing short of a fairytale debut for Tom Pidcock with the Q36.5 jersey. With two stage wins (plus one by his teammate Moschetti), the points classification and the overall classification, the British rider could not have imagined a better start with his new team, which, as today's performance demonstrated, proved to be compact and definitely in sync from the very beginning.

"We were in full control all day long. The guys did a fantastic job," declared the 2024 Olympic MTB champion after the awards ceremony. "I think the only moment when we perhaps didn't have 100% control of the situation was when there was the last gap towards the finish line. There we were a bit behind and lost some positions, but for the rest, we perfectly controlled the race all day. Frison did an extraordinary job today. I can say that I met these guys a month ago and now I already have a lot of confidence in them," Pidcock continued, personally intervening at the end to favor the (ultimately winning) sprint of Matteo Moschetti and thus repay his teammates after the hard work they did for him in the previous days.

"With three kilometers to go, I thought: 'Why not do it? They've worked so hard for me all week'. It was easy, I just thought about maintaining high speed, there was quite a bit of tailwind and it went well," explained the 1999 Leeds native, who appeared truly enthusiastic about this new beginning.

"It would have been a success even with just one team victory. If you think about it, it's like a fairy tale. Winning three stages is fantastic," Pidcock concluded.