Tom Pidcock says Ineos 'could have more success with the riders they have' in the Classics
The young British rider is set to make his debut for Ineos Grenadiers in a few days time
Tom Pidcock hasn't held back on what he thinks of the potential of his Ineos Grenadiers Spring Classics team-mates as he looks towards making his debut for the team in just a few day's time.
Pidcock, 21, said his new team's performances in the Classics have not reflected the quality of riders they have, as he looks to not just make up the numbers in the WorldTour during his neo-pro year.
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In an interview with The Telegraph, Pidcock said: "A lot of the new riders' styles are quite aggressive and real racers, so I think there's a good group.
"I mean there's still the Grand Tour riders in the team, but there's a good group of racers as well. With me and Ethan [Hayter] at Ineos, there's a good few guys that can race.
"I think the Classics team at Ineos needs... there could be more success with the riders that Ineos have. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna say."
Looking back at the 11 years that Ineos Grenadiers, once Team Sky, have ridden, the Classics wins have undoubtedly been thin on the ground in contrast to their stage racing success, especially when considering the amount of talent they have had in the team.
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The British squad have taken a few notable wins: Milan-San Remo, Strade Bianche, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad being just four examples with Michał Kwiatkowski being the most successful Ineos Classics rider. British success has been mostly focused around Geraint Thomas and the now-retired Ian Stannard.
Pidcock is down to ride the Classics, making his first appearance at the 'opening weekend' with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad as his first hit out on the cobbles before racing through the cobbled and Ardennes Classics.
First though he'll make his race debut at the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes et du Var alongside Thomas and Tao Geoghegan Hart, where he will look to put in a good performance after a strong cyclocross season where he battled against Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
Big things are expected of the Yorkshireman and his potential of winning some of the WorldTour's biggest races - he even has his eyes on winning in his neo-pro season.
"I'm excited about it, it's been a long time coming," he said. "I've been kept back in the under-23s with an eye on the long game, but I'm happy now I'm finally stepping up. I think I'm capable of properly racing. So I think that yes I can hopefully win a race or two this year."
Pidcock isn't the only new Ineos Grenadiers rider making his debut this weekend, Adam Yates and Daniel Martínez are both appearing in the team's colours for the first time at the UAE Tour as Yates looks to defend his title there.
Laurens De Plus has already made his debut for the British super-team as he supported Egan Bernal and eventual overall winner, Iván Sosa, at the Tour de la Provence.
The last rider who will be making his first appearance for the team since leaving at the end of 2015 will be veteran Australian, Richie Porte, who is set to make his return to the team at Paris-Nice.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
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