Tom Pidcock's arrival at Q36.5 (co-sponsored by Pinarello this year) was certainly the most discussed and controversial transfer during the winter transfer window two seasons ago. However, the British rider, relying on the talent and professionalism that distinguish him, took very little time to silence doubts and criticism and, immediately racking up victories and significant results, naturally positioned himself at the center of the Swiss team's solar system.

Here, after a first season that was absolutely positive and concluded with five victories and a podium finish at the Vuelta, the Olympic mountain bike champion will attempt to raise the bar even higher, making his undoubted leadership qualities and his marked desire to assert himself in any context count even more with teammates, staff, and sponsors.

"He's a truly competitive guy who, whatever he does, never wants to lose," Douglas Ryder said about this to Domestique microphones before revealing a rather telling anecdote about the Englishman's nature. "In Chile, every evening the guys had nothing else to do but talk to each other and build good chemistry this way, and so they always ended up playing poker or cards and every time it was Tom who won."

This anecdote says a lot about the mentality of the winner of the 2024 Amstel Gold Race, a guy "hungry" who knows exactly what he wants to achieve and who, for this reason, is not afraid to be demanding both with himself and with the people he works with.

"Tom is a leader in every sense and has improved our entire organization," admitted the General Manager of the Swiss team.

"He pushes our partners to the limit, Q36.5, Pinarello and all the others, to surpass the competition in terms of product innovation and as soon as they finish their work he makes sure that all their products are distributed to every single rider on the team because he knows well that his success depends on the fact that all 30 guys on the roster can benefit from them. This is a behavior that I notice very rarely among the leaders of the sports and cycling world today."

Pidcock's arrival within the ranks of the Swiss team has therefore substantially provided new and stronger input to all the realities gravitating around Q36.5 and, consequently, to the team itself which, aiming to further raise the quality of its materials and being able to count on the presence of the twenty-six-year-old from Leeds in its organization, has simultaneously increased its own appeal.

"The days are gone when we had to knock on riders' doors to ask if they wanted to join us: today, in fact, there are a lot of guys who contact us first to see if there's an opportunity to wear our colors and this is obviously nice. Attracting a rider like Pidcock to the team was a real gift," Ryder said relieved before explaining more concretely what it meant for the former INEOS Grenadiers to choose to sign with his team two winters ago.

"He took a calculated risk because, although we were already a WorldTour team, it was still a risk but in the end he made a key decision for his career. Before he didn't have the same type of freedom and trust, two things very important for Tom, that he has here now: in this team he has been able to exercise the freedom and responsibility that we gave him taking it on without reservation."

Stimulated by this type of endorsement, this year Pidcock, having archived both participation in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta España in 2025, will (re)test himself with the most prestigious stage race in the world, the Tour de France, an event where, in the recent past, he has already demonstrated his ability to make an impact by carving out a significant space for himself.

"The Tour is the Tour, so if there are immediate opportunities to win a stage, he won't hold back. What I like about Tom is that the only thing he never wants to hear during team meetings is 'Our goal is not to lose time'. Tom wants us to race and at the last Vuelta that's what we did every single day," Ryder said.

"In France, the ambition to look after the general classification obviously won't be lacking, but that won't be the only objective. Tom likes to win, and we saw that at the Vuelta. If there's a stage that suits him, he'll try. And then, of course, if he still has enough strength left and is in contention for an excellent general classification placement, then he'll aim for that too," concluded the head of Pinarello Q36.5, hoping that next July Pidcock can compete seriously on both fronts.