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MVDP also doesn’t appear to give two shits about le tour, which I find very heartening.
That's not completely true though is it. He works his butt off for Jasper Philipsen as a super deluxe lead-out man. Sure, he realistically knows that he's never going to be a GC contender, but he rides for his team mates regardless and in the rainbow bands too.
MVDP has stuck in smaller teams and done what he wants/is best suited to
This is why I think he'll go to Q36.5. Alpecin–Deceuninck have grown as a team over the past few years, I can see the same with Q36.5 and Pidcock.
True but Pog is a properly good descender on the road I doubt he’s slower than Pidcock.
Yeah sure hes a stronger descender than JV or RE but you could watch Milan San Remo finish from this year as a head to head comparison?
There are also many better elbows-out and tactical w2w racers than him which is different to taking a decent quick when you're out in the lead with a clear road ahead.
Pog is a power guy. He wins so much because he can ride off up a long hill or he can drop a sudden load of power in an uphill sprint. As I understand it from all the 'not on drugs' analysis thats down to an inherant physical advantage when it comes to recovery and metabolism? Not something i would categorise as 'talent'
He works his butt off for Jasper Philipsen as a super deluxe lead-out man
Which for a man of his talent is pretty easy. He uses the tour as training!
Yeah sure hes a stronger descender than JV or RE but you could watch Milan San Remo finish from this year as a head to head comparison?
As I recall this year Pog got to the top of Poggio with MVDP on his wheel and Pidcock about 5m behind. They all took it easy and the group swelled to about 10 riders. Not sure it showed anything about Pogs descending compared to Pidcock.
Not something i would categorise as ‘talent’
You would be wrong.
Neither the team, nor Dan or the writers of the script for that video, mention the fact that they have never made any commitment to women's racing. Myopic chauvinism that makes me think the riders who jump ship are doing the right thing
Still can't believe Ineos are running Lightweight wheels, that shape was out of date 10 years ago. Yes, they look great and weigh nothing, but that is dated kit.
they have never made any commitment to women’s racing. Myopic chauvinism that makes me think the riders who jump ship are doing the right thing
For those better aquainted with road racing, and the currently smaller talent pool of womens road racing - how feasible would it have been for them to have built a road team around PFP in a single off-season? Even with an open chequebook, riders on multi season contracts and a lack of preparation time would seem like they would be starting unrecoverably on the back foot.
To find themselves in this situation is proof they never tried before when other teams have though, so I agree with the underlying point.
built a road team around PFP in a single off-season?
Start by looking at how long PFP has been at Ineos. They had more than one season to build a team, but didn't
Still can’t believe Ineos are running Lightweight wheels, that shape was out of date 10 years ago. Yes, they look great and weigh nothing, but that is dated kit.
Plenty of teams run suboptimal kit they don't like (like SRAMdrivetrains).
Ah right, I didn't know that. Guess it goes with the Pinarello image.
they have never made any commitment to women’s racing
No marginal gain in it for them, eh?
TBH I feel they probably would have done it by now if they were still Sky, but Ratcliffe seems to have moved on to other shiny baubles.
Still can’t believe Ineos are running Lightweight wheels, that shape was out of date 10 years ago. Yes, they look great and weigh nothing, but that is dated kit.
Image more than anything on those I think. Also, Lightweight certainly used to have a policy of never sponsoring teams or riders, everyone was expected to pay for them. They quite famously told Lance Armstrong to sod off when he asked for them, he/the team had to buy them. So maybe Ineos are in the same situation, they've bought a whole load of incredibly expensive blingy wheels and feel they need to keep using them?
They were also one of the very last teams to commit to disc brakes. The difference in performance was incredible, you could see their riders - on rim brakes - dropping back through the peloton on descents as everyone else - on disc brakes - could go faster into corners and brake later. Pretty much the whole peloton was on them for months before Ineos finally and quite reluctantly started using them.
Daniel Benson now reporting that Pidcock is offski for real:
https://dnlbenson.substack.com/p/tom-pidcock-is-leaving-ineos-grenadiers
Now confirmed on the Ineos Insta feed.
Off the Bora I'd guess with the Red Bull connection, though it'd be very funny if he followed Cummings to Jayco.
Rumoured to be off to Q36.5 - (the Pinerello Connection?)
important question is not where he goes but does Kurt Bogaerts his coach go with him.
Rumoured to be off to Q36.5 – (the Pinerello Connection?)
Don't they ride Scott's?
I see Pidcock and Ineos are parting ways
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/tom-pidcock-leaves-ineos-grenadiers.html
In other breaking news, Joe Cocker has just signed for Jumbo Visma
? FFS that was supposed to be a laughing emoji
Don’t they ride Scott’s?
Yes. From Cycling News:
Cyclingnews understands that Pidcock will use Scott bikes at Q36.5 in 2025 but will continue to use a Pinarello mountain bike when he competes off-road. Glasenberg owns the Q36.5 clothing brand and team and recently purchased a controlling share of Pinarello.
will continue to use a Pinarello mountain bike when he competes off-road
He's going to struggle riding a MTB in cyclocross
So the official announcement has been made. Tom Pidcock to join Q36.5
Looks like he could still be on a Pinarello for the next three years as the team owner also owns Pinarello( I didn’t know that!)
Apparantly they paid Ineos 12 million euros to buy him out of his contract and Luigi Bergamo, Chairperson of Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, said “ I can’t wait to send him his first pair of Dottore bib shorts and hear what he thinks!” That's probably the most expensive review for a pair of shorts ever!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s Monopoly money stuff. Must be maddening to the teams with small budgets.
Mental the amount of money being swapped around...how do people work out if it have value for money? What kind of stuff constitutes value for money?
Well done to the guy being able to command those kinds of figures, but that must surely just add more pressure (which may ensure even more drive for wins).
The industry is struggling in plenty areas, but there are a few pro teams who clearly aren't...
He needs to work on his Instagram video though...2 matches don't appear to cause much fire! 🙂
I'd never heard of q36.5. Having looked at their site, I guess they won't need to sell many jerseys to pay his wages.
I don't follow the teams but looking at the stats Q36.5 don't seem to be very successful do they? Paying 12 million for a rider who may do okay in a few classics and minor stage races is not a good business investment is it?
Then I look up the owner of Q36.5, Luigi Bergamo, who is a billionaire former mining executive so I guess spaffing 12 million is pocket change.
Well done to the guy being able to command those kinds of figures, but that must surely just add more pressure (which may ensure even more drive for wins).
I'm not sure there are any genuine 'business' decisions being made here. Pidcock's being paid millions basically to ride bikes very fast, which is objectively quite mad. Trying to somehow pretend that it makes commercial sense is missing the point somewhat. The whole thing is a rich man's hobby circus, powered by fossil fuels in the case of both Ratcliffe and Glasenberg.
Also, have any of the journalists writing stuff about Q36.5 'building a team' around Pidcock, stopped to consider that one of his fundamental traits appears to be that he appears to be very much not a team player?
Anyway, good luck to him, but pretending any of this is logical in commercial seems like a bit of dead end.
Q36.5 don’t seem to be very successful do they?
and
I’d never heard of q36.5.
Is probably why they've just spent 12M euros on Tom Pidcock.
Then I look up the owner of Q36.5, Luigi Bergamo, who is a billionaire former mining executive so I guess spaffing 12 million is pocket change.
Aren't you thinking of Ivan Glasenberg rather than Bergamo, who is actually ex-Assos and founded Q36.5, I think. Glasenberg's the guy with the fossil fuel money who owns a chunk of Pinarello and Q36.5. He's kind of a South African version of Jim Ratcliffe.
Not thinking of anything, just googled it and Bergamo is majority stakeholder in 36.5. Not really sure who it is matters as no doubt some billionaire or other so 12 million still seen as pocket change.
Also not sure how Pidcock is going to make the team successful unless they are planning to buy a lot more riders (which they well may be doing I guess). Pidcocks success is not when in a team.
Also, have any of the journalists writing stuff about Q36.5 ‘building a team’ around Pidcock, stopped to consider that one of his fundamental traits appears to be that he appears to be very much not a team player?
Surely building a team around him would be ideal for Pidcock then?
I get the impression he's got no problem with others riding for him, it's returning the favour that's the problem.
Whatever, it's going to be interesting to see how this will pan out. I'm finding it hard to see how moving to a team like this will further his ambitions on the road. I hope it works for him though as it would be exciting to see him winning some classics.
Not thinking of anything, just googled it and Bergamo is majority stakeholder in 36.5. Not really sure who it is matters as no doubt some billionaire or other so 12 million still seen as pocket change.
Yeah, I get that Pidcock won't care where his money comes from, but it's Glasenberg who is the former mining executive, rather than Bergamo, who was apparently at Assos for 20 years before starting A36.5. Glasenberg owns a chunk of Q36.5, 30% according to google, and, apparently, 80% of Pinarello. Sorry, I know that's a bit pedantic.
Mental the amount of money being swapped around…how do people work out if it have value for money? What kind of stuff constitutes value for money?
It is mad and in this case it might be money that’s just a vanity project or rich mans hobby
However there are proper bean counters at this level. They’ll look at tv and press coverage that mentions the sponsoring brands. Including where it is in the paper and the papers readership, viewing figures for tv etc. That’s all added up and converted into equivalant advertising costs
Obviously there is lots of guess work here. But i seem to remember that in the F1 Mercedes glory days they were confident they getting more back in coverage than the 100s of millions a year they were spending on the Team
Yeah, I get that Pidcock won’t care where his money comes from, but it’s Glasenberg who is the former mining executive, rather than Bergamo, who was apparently at Assos for 20 years before starting A36.5. Glasenberg owns a chunk of Q36.5, 30% according to google, and, apparently, 80% of Pinarello. Sorry, I know that’s a bit pedantic.
Fair enough, looks like google AI overview returned some duff info.
TP is focused, a proven winner and confident in his own ability.
In the cynical UK, that makes you an arrogant, difficult little sh1t with people desperate to have a pop and take you down.
Unfortunately due to Ineos' inability to organise a p1sh up in a brewery, things haven't worked out for him there.
SC seems to have been a scapegoat in all this to Alulas benefit. Ineos have lost a top quality DS in another act of self destruction.
TP is focused, a proven winner
Not really on the road though. He's got some big name wins but I think he's in 5 wins on the road since he joined Ineos. I'm assuming Q36.5 are banking in him wiping the floor at the lower levels they will get invited to and use TP to try and get wildcard entries to the bigger events.
I don't get the move. According to the Laterne Rouge podcast (very good) the Q36.5 team will not get a place in the grand tours. This leaves Pidcock only the classics for which the Q36.5 don't really have any heavy hitting support riders. Perhaps he's realised he can't beat Tadej or Jonas, he looked shocked at the top of Puy de dome, at their Watts/Speed. and will concentrate on cross and mtb and one day races which Sponsors may not get a return..make it make sense...
He can go and do one day and one week races. Probably works nicely for him in terms of his strengths (and that the better riders will be else where). But as a big fish in a small pond I suspect the new team are expecting to see some proper results from him and pretty quickly.
Amstel, Strada Bianche, Tour stage up the Alp.... that's better than most not to mention that time he outs sprinted Wout but the finish line camera was in the wrong place! Not sure he needs a team back up too much in the Classics. I think he has looked at MdVP being in a small team compared to Wout in a big team and thought he doesn't need all the INEOS grad tour shite