Tom Pidcock, who claimed silver in the elite race at the recent World Cyclocross Championships, believes Andrew McQuaid’s Trinity Racing team could grow to become a professional mixed discipline squad.
The young British rider has pointed to
the example of Mathieu van der Poel’s Alpecin-Fenix.
It is now a
ProContinental squad that affords its star rider the chance to compete in
cyclocross, MTB and top flight pro road races.
Alpecin-Fenix
began as a Continental level team, then BKCP–Powerplus,
in 2009 and until 2015 was a mainly cyclocross set-up.
As Van der Poel arrived into the squad and developed, the team grew around him; from a cyclocross squad to a ProContinental road team that rides the biggest road races in the world.
The team’s growth in line with Van der
Poel’s emergence means the Dutch star has just won the cyclocross world title,
will aim for MTB gold at the Olympics this year and will also look to win
classics on the road in the months ahead.
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Pidcock believes it’s an exciting model
and though he has always been inevitably linked to a move to Team Ineos at some
point, he believes Trinity Racing could grow and meet his needs in the years
ahead.
“I have been doing this all my life,
changing bikes,” Pidcock told Het Laatste Nieuws
of mixing cyclocross, MTB and road racing.
“If Van der Poel or Wout Van Aert hadn’t
been around, I would have still done it. They’ve shown the combination is
perfectly possible. That makes it easier for me to do it as well.”
Pidcock has already been junior TT world champion as well as junior and U23 world and European cyclocross champion.
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In 2020 he is hoping to win more gold
medals on the road and in MTB and ride the MTB race at the Olympics.
“Then I’ll have a world title in four
disciplines,” he said of hoping to win big in MTB and on the road this year. “I’ve
never had that and that’s why I want to try it.”
And he believes the transition by Van
der Poel’s team, adding sponsors and constantly strengthening its roster and
expanding, is one Trinity Racing could mirror.
“Why not grow with Trinity? Maybe I can
continue to develop together with this team and we can go the same way as
Mathieu van der Poel’s team. Van der Poel inspired that idea,” he said.
“You can do crosses and road races today in any WorldTour team; just look at Jumbo Visma,” he said of Wout van Aert and his team mates mixing off-road competition with road racing
“But I also want to include mountain
biking. I don’t want to be with Van der Poel’s team because they already have
Mathieu.”
Pidcock raced the 2018-2019 cyclocross season with TP Racing, which was established with four riders by Irishman McQuaid, who is also Pidcock’s agent. Pidcock then rode the 2019 road race season with Le Col Wiggins.
For the 2019-2020 cyclocross season, TP
Racing morphed into Trinity Racing. That team will now continue for the 2020
road racing season with Pidcock as its main rider.
It means Trinity Racing is now a 12-month team, competing in cyclocross and on the road. And though it is an elite team, and has not yet applied for a UCI licence, it is already securing invites to major races including the Baby Giro.
As well as Tom Pidcock, it has also been assembling more riders for the road racing campaign ahead. Irish road international and Tour de l’Avenir stage winner Ben Healy has already signed with Trinity Racing.
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