Pidcock sets a date for his retirement and reveals the challenges he still has left to conquer

Tom Pidcock is quite clear about how he wants the second half of his career to be. The British rider, now focused on preparing for his first Tour de France with the Pinarello-Q36.5 team, has openly discussed his pending goals, his relationship with the Grand Tours, and even the date he would like to retire.

Tom Pidcock has a retirement date, but first he wants to win a Monument, the Road World Championship, and race until the Olympics of ...

The statements come from an interview given to the British newspaper The Guardian, in which Pidcock acknowledges that winning a Grand Tour would be the greatest achievement of his career, although not necessarily the challenge that motivates him the most.

The Grand Tours do not obsess him, but he knows what it would mean to win one

Pidcock will return to the Tour de France after abandoning due to COVID-19 in his last participation. He will do so with a different dimension as a rider, especially after finishing third in last year's Vuelta a España, the best result of his career in a Grand Tour.

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Even so, the British rider admits that the idea of focusing for three weeks on a general classification is not what attracts him the most.

“The Grand Tours don’t excite me that much, but it is an achievement,” Pidcock said.

The Pinarello-Q36.5 rider does not hide that, precisely because of that mental and competitive difficulty, winning a three-week race would have enormous value for him. “If I manage to win a Grand Tour, it will be the greatest achievement of my career because for me, concentrating for three weeks is difficult.”

Pidcock also explained that his great victories have never come as something unexpected, but rather after having visualized them beforehand. “Everything I have achieved in my career, I had always imagined it before achieving it. I have never done anything that came out of nowhere, like magic.”

That podium in the Vuelta, therefore, appears for him as a real reference on which to build. “So having that previous step makes me know that I can be on the podium again.”

“With the right situation, I can win a Grand Tour”

In the upcoming Tour de France, Pidcock will face a highly demanding scenario. In the fight for the general classification will be names like Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Paul Seixas, and the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe block with Florian Lipowitz and Remco Evenepoel.

Pidcock does not currently place himself at the level of the big favorites, but he does not close the door to winning a Grand Tour in the future.

“I’m not saying that I currently have the ability to beat Tadej, Seixas, or Vingegaard. But in the right situation, I can imagine it happening. And with the right situation, I can win a Grand Tour.”

Road World Championship, Gravel World Championship, and a Monument

Beyond the Grand Tours, Pidcock has a very specific list of pending goals. The most symbolic is the Road World Championship, a victory that would allow him to complete a unique collection in three disciplines.

“I want to win the Road World Championship. Then I will have won in all three disciplines.”

Pidcock has already been a world champion in cyclocross and mountain biking, so the rainbow jersey on the road would hold special value in his career. He also mentions the Gravel World Championship, although with less urgency. “And the Gravel World Championship, actually, but if that never happens, I’m not too worried about it either.”

Another of the major goals he still lacks is to win one of cycling's five Monuments. “I want a Monument.”

This year he came close in Milan-San Remo, but due to his profile, versatility, and explosiveness, that goal fits especially with races like Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, or the Giro di Lombardia, although Pidcock himself does not specify which one he prioritizes.

Three more Olympic medals and retirement after 2036

The most striking part of the interview comes when Pidcock talks about the Olympic Games. The British rider has already built much of his legend on the mountain bike, but he wants to extend that path for another decade.

“And of course, I’m going for three Olympic medals. My goal is to finish my career after five Olympic Games, so after the 2036 Olympic Games, I will retire.”

The roadmap is ambitious: to continue competing until participating in five Olympic events and retire after the 2036 Games. This would mean staying in the elite for another ten years and continuing to combine, in one way or another, road, mountain biking, cyclocross, and perhaps gravel.

Pidcock has been one of the most difficult riders to classify in modern cycling for years. Olympic champion in mountain biking, world champion in cyclocross, road race winner, and now a Grand Tour aspirant, his future calendar seems to confirm that he does not want to choose a single path. He wants to win almost everything before he leaves.