Tom Pidcock's options : leaving INEOS, dropping down a category, or focusing on road racing are the most talked about.

Tom Pidcock is going through turbulent times and will soon have to make several decisions regarding his near future. He is one of the highest-paid cyclists in the world for an INEOS Grenadiers team that is currently struggling, and his lack of contribution to the team's results seems to have created tensions within the British squad, creating a situation that appears to be uncomfortable for both the cyclist and the team.

Tom Pidcock's next destination is becoming the soap opera of the preseason

Even though the 2024 season has not yet concluded, rumors about signings, team changes, and various movements are already heating up. One of the cyclists who is attracting the most attention is Tom Pidcock, who has been showing his discomfort with his situation at INEOS Grenadiers. This feeling would also be shared by the team, indicating that the British rider's departure may be closer than we might expect.

To understand Tom Pidcock's situation within the INEOS Grenadiers, we must start by talking about his salary, around 4 million per season, among the best in the peloton. However, in this current season, Pidcock has been focused almost exclusively on mountain biking, aiming to defend his Olympic gold medal in Paris 2024, a goal he achieved in a thrilling race that was decided in the final moments.

The issue is that INEOS Grenadiers is primarily a road team, and Tom Pidcock's results in this discipline have been rather modest. He has only achieved 5 victories in his career, albeit quite prestigious, including the stage of the Tour de France finishing at Alpe d'Huez in 2022, the Strade Bianche in 2023, and the Amstel Gold Race this year, one of the only 14 victories that the British squad has obtained in 2024, a rather modest number for a team with the economic potential of INEOS Grenadiers, especially when compared to the 80 victories of UAE Team Emirates, the 32 of Visma-Lease a Bike, or the 24 of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe.

For this reason, INEOS Grenadiers would be demanding that Tom Pidcock focus exclusively on road cycling to justify his salary. On the other hand, the cyclist would be uncomfortable with these demands, as he has always enjoyed the freedom to tackle both cyclocross and mountain biking campaigns. He even participated in the Tour de France as part of the team with the condition of being able to race freely.

With the door open for his departure, rumors point to different destinations, but one that has been widely mentioned, despite seeming like a step back, is his signing with Q36.5, a Pro category team with significant potential and without the demands of his current squad. Among the rumors of possible destinations, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has also been mentioned, although it is hard to believe that he would leave a superstructure for another where he would be scrutinized as closely or even more than in his current team. In any case, we have a soap opera to follow in the coming months. Let's see what surprises the British cyclist has in store for us.