Tom Pidcock on Netflix docu-series: ‘It will be massive for the sport’
Hot off signing a five-year contract to stay with Ineos Grenadiers, Pidcock confirms he wants to target the Tour de France in the coming years.
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Tom Pidcock could be the sport’s next superstar and fans will have an inside look at the emerging rider at the highly anticipated Netflix docu-series set to track the 2022 Tour de France.
Pidcock hopes to be playing a starring role in the Netflix series ahead of his likely Tour debut this summer with Ineos Grenadiers — one of eight teams confirmed Thursday to participate in the project.
“I think it’s great for the sport,” Pidcock said of the Netflix project. “I think it’s going to showcase the sport to a wider audience and give insight into the sport. I think Formula 1 is easier to understand, but cycling is a little bit more complicated because there is not really a series like that. The [Netflix series] will be massive for the sport.”
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The 22-year-old is hot off signing a new, multi-million-pound five-year contract with Ineos Grenadiers that will keep him in a team kit through 2027.
When asked if he can win the Tour de France someday, Pidcock said that’s on the radar as he is poised to emerge as the new face and gravitational center of the UK team.
“Of course someday I do want to try to win the Tour,” he said. “I’ve made that clear. When, I am not sure.
“Now you’re seeing signing of quite a few young guys, and we are building the next wave of riders,” he said. “I think if I can lead that and be the guide of these new riders coming up and creating our own bubble and group. I think we can be really successful.
“Ben [Turner] and Magnus [Sheffield] are already punching above the pay grade, if you like, and that’s really special to be a part of.”
Pidcock ready for six-hour monument challenge at Tour of Flanders
As if things are not moving fast enough for Pidcock right now, he’s now being talked about as a favorite for victory Sunday at Tour of Flanders.
After struggling early in the spring classics with some health issues, Pidcock barnstormed back into the frame with third on Wednesday at Dwars door Vlaanderen. The big ride only fuels his confidence heading into the monuments.
“I took a lot of confidence from Dwars,” Pidcock said. “It was a hard race, we took it on, and maybe the final didn’t go perfectly, but I was happy how I raced and with my legs, and how we raced as a team.”
Pidcock said he reacted to what he called “high sugars” during Milan-San Remo and recovered from whatever was slowing him down earlier this spring. Now it’s time to race.
“There is no place for caution,” he said. “If the race goes early, you need to be there or you’re not going to be there early. I can see it going early Sunday, especially with Pogačar being there. You have to expect anything on Sunday.”
Pidcock recounted how he got dropped on the cobbled climbs as a junior racer, but he said he’s grown to appreciate races like Tour of Flanders.
“What makes the race so special is the crowd, which I have yet to experience. Along with the history of the race,” he said. “Winning in Flanders, it’s a monument, the biggest race of the year for Belgians. I have spent a lot of time here, and it’s a race I want to win in my career for sure.
“We seem to race a lot earlier than before, but you kind of know where the race will happen. Maybe I don’t have all the experience, but I can only go off the experience that I do have.”
Pidcock downplayed his chances for Sunday but vowed to go down swinging in the monuments, where races drag into more than six hours and distances more than 250km.
“That is a factor with my recent health issues, but I can race the distances now. I showed in them worlds last year I can race after 250km plus,” he said. “It’s a factor for a guy who hasn’t had as many races with that distance in my legs, but I don’t think it’s a limiting factor.
“I don’t think I am the favorite Sunday. I think there are guys who have proven themselves in this race before, and I think I have a chance, but I think it needs to play right in the race.”