Tom Pidcock’s much anticipated move to Ineos Grenadiers has been completed, with the young British star among four riders the team has today confirmed for next year.
Pidcock has been riding with Andrew McQuaid’s Trinity
Racing team for the past two seasons and recently underlined his potential with
a dominant display at the Baby Giro.
Pidcock, who is represented by McQuaid, won the race overall by 2½ minutes over his closest challenger and also took victory on three of the eight stages.
Richie Porte is also joining the team again, as expected,
as is EF Pro Cycling Tour de France 2020 stage winner Daniel Martinez and
Laurens De Plus, who joins from Jumbo Visma.
Those four join Adam Yates in bolstering Ineos Grenadiers, which counts Irish rider Eddie Dunbar among its ranks, for next year and all bring serious firepower to the squad.
Advertisement
Pidcock is a development rider who could win immediately at
the highest level while Porte, Martinez and De Plus can be classed a
domestiques who are potential big race winners in their own right.
Related News
“It’s clear Tom is one of the most exciting young riders
in world cycling and part of a new era of
incredible all-round talents,” Dave Brailsford said of Pidcock (21), a world
and European title winner in the junior and U23 ranks on road and in cyclocross.
“We’re
witnessing a new trend in cycling, with an emergence of young riders who come
from a broader, multi-disciplined background,” added Brailsford.
“Tom’s career so far really embodies that. He’s competed
at the highest level across several disciplines, an incredible bike handler, a
natural born bike racer, and a winner.”
Brailsford
suggested De Plus (25), who won the Binck Bank Tour overall last year, would be
a team rider who could also develop in his own right.
Similarly,
Porte - though he has just finished 3rd
at the Tour – was being brought back, after leaving the team in 2015, to
bolster the team performance in major races.
“He’s a
world class climber, time triallist, and if you are building a team to be
competitive against the world’s best then you’d want Richie Porte by your side,” Brailsford said of the 35-year-old
Australian.
Brailsford said he had been watching Martinez – who won the Critérium du Dauphiné overall this year and claiming stage 13 at the Tour – for some time and was looking forward to seeing how he developed, which will probably be on the front pulling for Egan Bernal.
Topics
