Yorkshire's Olympic superstar Tom Pidcock wins for new road team in just his second race

The 25-year-old Yorkshireman, a two-time Olympic gold medallist on a mountain bike, left road cycling super power Ineos Grenadiers under a cloud at the end of 2024 to move to the less-heralded, second-tier Swiss team Q36.5 Pro Cycling, after a breakdown in his relationship with the British squad.

And he has already sprinkled a bit of stardust on Q36.5 by winning stage two of the AIUIa Tour in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

“Today was super important for me,” said Pidcock in his post-race interview, after pointing to his new team’s logo as he crossed the line after winning on the summit finish of the second stage.

“New team, all these great people and I just wanted to do them proud today.

“The team rode brilliantly, they had full commitment for me, and yes, I was highly motivated today.

“I knew I was in good shape, when you look objectively I’m in a really good place but after a winter where you’ve not been competing against anyone and you’re producing a lot of efforts on your own, you actually don’t know.

“So it’s nice to get a bit of reassurance.”

Pidcock launched his attack from 500 metres out after pacing the lead group up the final climb of the 132.7km stage from AlUla Old Town to Bir Jaydah Mountain Wirkah.

“The first time I attacked I just thought I’d test the waters a little bit, and today we’d said we’re just going to try to win the stage, it’s not about GC,” said Pidcock.

“I felt the wind a little bit so I thought I’ll just wait a little bit, then we got to 500 metres and the road was going down to the left, the right hand side was a bit higher, so I thought I’d go to the right and use the flatter section to attack.”

Victory is his sixth on the road to go alongside more notable wins of stages of the Tour de France as well as Spring Classics such as the Amstel Gold Race and Strade Bianchi, plus his multitude of major wins on mountain and cyclo-cross bikes.

It also puts him in pole position to claim overall victory in the five-day stage race.

“Before coming here we said today was the day to win the race because it’s easier to defend than it is to take time on stage four,” he said. “Now, hopefully, we have a little bit of a buffer because this race is won on seconds. It’s all to play for but we’re in a strong position.”