After an up-and-down 2024 campaign and the end-of-season drama surrounding his future at Ineos Grenadiers, Tom Pidcock is just focused on rediscovering the enjoyment of bike racing again.
Speaking on stage at Rouleur Live as the headline name on Thursday, Pidcock went into depth about his past season at Ineos, not enjoying his triumph at the Paris Olympics MTB event and some of his future plans.
However, the discussion with Matt Stephens opened with the broadcaster caveating that there was a certain elephant in the room the pair couldn't talk about - alluding to his near departure from Ineos and the saga that developed after his "deselection" from Il Lombardia.
"There's a lot been going on this year in relation to Tom and the team the press that I've no doubt a lot of you'd be very interested in talking about… But we can't," said Stephens, with several members of senior Ineos staff in the audience.
"Because Tom will be whisked off the stage and bundled into a van and then taken somewhere to a derelict wasteland. So that's not going to happen."
However, the Ineos man did diverge slightly from that and didn't lie about the shortcomings he and the team had enjoyed, admitting that while he wasn't particularly in a clearer place, he did see the recent changes to personnel as a move in the right direction.
"No," was the Brit's answer when Stephens asked if he was "in a happier place in terms of the clarity and purpose moving forward for you in the next couple of seasons".
"I'm never gonna lie. So it is true yeah - we've had a difficult year, I've had a difficult year. It's not what we wanted. But I do see a lot of positive changes," he continued.
"And of course, everyone accepts that it's difficult. It's the first thing you need to do if you want to change it. And I definitely see some of those changes happening. and I do hope that it can turn around next year."
While Pidcock had highlights including a win at the Amstel Gold Race and a defence of his Olympic MTB title, it was a largely winless year, well away from his own expectations and that of the team as their highest-paid rider.
The 2024 season was supposed to see Pidcock give the general classification at the Tour de France a real go but he was well off the mark, eventually abandoning the race while sitting 55 minutes off the lead before stage 14 with symptoms of COVID-19. But did he ever really want to ride for GC?
"It was what I needed to say," said Pidcock when asked if it was his true desire.
"I don't say anything that I don't believe but the last years going to the Tour, I guess I haven't actually known what I wanted or what I could achieve, and I was just saying what I think everyone wanted to hear.
"I don't feel any particular way about it, it just doesn't create a nice experience. I think I really want to find what I want to get out of it and be realistic, and then kind of go from there."
Finding enjoyment in 2025
It's the enjoyment he's searching for, with the pressure taking its toll and sucking the fun out of the sport for Pidcock. Even in mountain biking, the discipline which appears his favourite as the only one he watches races back in, Pidcock found the stress overwhelming.
"To be honest, everyone's probably going to be quite surprised, but I didn't enjoy the race. Not at all," said Pidcock of the Paris Olympics cross-country race at Élancourt Hill.
Pidcock immediately replied "Yes" to Stephens asking if it was the stress. "[In] the build-up, I put too much stress on myself. You only put stress on yourself, you can ignore everything else.
"I kind of build myself up a little bit too much because sometimes I can go to a race and really be too relaxed. You're inside your own head a lot, trying to just stay focused, but not too focused, and not think about the race too much."
Ultimately, he overcame the stress and produced a stunning move to beat Viktor Koretzky and disappoint the home French crowds, however, this was the pattern of Pidcock's season, with the Tour bringing the same discontent.
"My first year in the Tour was amazing, My first experience of it, I won a stage, G was on the podium, it was great. And then the last two years, to be honest, I didn't really enjoy it," he admitted.
"It was difficult. I didn't win a stage, as a team we didn't have as much success as we're used to, so it was difficult. I need to kind of try and refind that feeling I had the first years."
The feeling he describes as "enjoying it, feeling like I'm part of the race" before again admitting that the stress of expectation had put a dampener on things before racing even started in Florence.
"I think also the expectations grew in the last two years and yeah, I didn't meet them for a multitude of reasons, and then it's not really enjoyable. You're always trying to reason with yourself, I guess," said Pidcock.
"Even though you're the biggest race in the world and there's thousands of people cheering. It's quite a bit of a pressure cooker."
He skirted around the question of whether he would do the Tour de France in 2025, instead choosing to focus his goals for next season around the Classics, however, cyclocross also looks like it is off the cards, with the Brit needing extra time to reset after the aforementioned team drama.
"At the moment no, but possibly," said Pidcock about a possible appearance in the cross field this season.
"It's been a long year. I needed a proper break away for everything. But there is a possibility I do some races over Christmas and the new year but we can figure out that later."
He rounded off the talk in front of the packed crowd again going back to that search for enjoyment in his next season at Ineos.
"I think I want to get back to enjoying it, with going out there racing and then I think everything else will follow," concluded the Brit. "Unless you want it yourself, it's everything else, is irrelevant."
At the time of writing, tickets are still available for Rouleur Live on Saturday and can be purchased here.
