It wasn't the Grand Tour podium that Tom Pidcock would have envisaged. There was no ticker tape, or crowds, or curated celebrations, but instead a hastily-assembled podium of cool boxes outside Visma-Lease a Bike's team hotel in Madrid.
Protests might have cut short stage 21 of the Vuelta a España, but they could not dampen Pidcock's achievements, as he finished third. He became the first male Olympic MTB champion to finish on the podium of a Grand Tour, and with Q36.5 Pro Cycling, the first rider from a second-division team to be on the podium since 2010.
