Tom Pidcock wins the AlUla Tour

British winner!! Tom Pidcock wins the overall in the AlUla Tour whilst his teammate Matteo Moschetti won a windy stage 5 from a reduced bunch sprint.

Tom Pidcock wins the AlUla Tour

British winner!! Tom Pidcock wins the overall in the AlUla Tour whilst his teammate Matteo Moschetti won a windy stage 5 from a reduced bunch sprint. Tom was 23rd and comfortably won the overall and the Points classification. Britain’s Calum Johnston was 58th and Oliver Stockwell 81st on the stage.

The race leader already predicted it would be a nervous day with the wind and that is exactly what happened. The echelons alarm sounded early on in the race but the entire Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team was alert and focused.

Emīls Liepiņš and Nick Zukowksy were there in the first part of the race where speeds averaged 50 kilometers an hour. Nicoló Parisini, Xabier Mikel Azparren, Matteo Moschetti and Frederik Frison were with Pidcock in the last hour of racing when the first group was down to 35 odd riders showing the strength of the team as whole.

Despite all the work already done to keep the race lead, Pidcock himself started the lead-out for the sprint at the Camel Cup Track, followed by Mikel Xabier Azparren and a final push by Fredrik Frison for Matteo Moschetti. After insane speeds in the final kilometers Moschetti managed to push his wheel across the line first. After two fourth places already, it was a very emotional win after the Italian’s heavy training accident in July of 2024.

“It’s hard to believe. What a week,” Moschetti reacted directly after the finish. “Our goal was to keep Tom safe. In the end he repaid us for all we did for him this week. I have to thank him and the entire team. When UAE launched the sprint, I was super close to the barriers, but I passed through with good speed and passed Molano in the last meters. What a sprint. Last year I went through a very hard time, and I cannot believe today.”

Race leader Tom Pidcock was relieved after the finish of a hard, final stage where the wind played havoc on his rivals in the general classification. He praised his teammates. “I am a bit emotional here because it’s almost a fairytale. To see how much it means to these guys is incredible, to finish it off like that is unbelievable. The way we rode as a team today! I didn’t know these guys before December or met some even only in January. What we already do together and how we ride together is just incredible.”

It’s the eighth win in Pidcock’s career and the first time he wins the overall classification as an elite rider. “This overall win is a big step in my career, if I am honest,” he said after the finish. The amount of concentration it takes to defend a lead at this level. It’s not World Tour and it’s only five days but I realize how hard it is. It is a big step. I can’t really describe how I feel now. It’s like Red Bull gives you wings but so does Q36.5.”

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