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Get To Know Our Vuelta a España 2025 Lineup
We are proud to announce our eight riders for the Vuelta a España, our second Grand Tour as a team. This year, the Vuelta starts in Italy and presents the riders with eleven mountain or hilltop finishes, including the iconic Alto del Angliru, La Farrapona and Bola del Mundo.
The Q36.5 Pro Cycling roster for La Vuelta comprises four Spanish riders, plus one each from Switzerland, Australia, Canada and Great Britain.
21 August 2025
Tom Pidcock – 26 years old – Leeds, Great Britain but lives in Andorra
Tom Pidcock was a double Olympic mountain bike champion, cyclocross and mountain bike world champion, Strade Bianche, Amstel Gold Race and Alpe d’Huez Tour de France stage winner before he even turned 25.
And those are only his elite wins! This year he added another five victories to his total of ten road wins with the most recent stage victory in the Arctic Race of Norway where he also came in second overall.
He was the runner-up in Strade Bianche after a great fight with Tadej Pogacar and had top ten places in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race.
Pidcock is a rider with flair and style. He is a master descender but apparently also masters the art of riding a unicycle. He is also the proud ‘dad’ to two adorable dachshunds called Acorn and Chestnut who can most definitely be spotted roadside in the Andorra stages.
Xabier Mikel Azparren – 26 years old – San Sebastián, Spain
Xabier Mikel – double first name – starts his second Grand Tour of the season alongside Tom Pidcock.
The two work well together on the bike and get along great off the bike. Xabier Mikel is a strong rider often found at the front of the peloton keeping a break in check or setting a high pace.
He is a true style icon and was already sporting a moustache before half of the peloton did. Xabier Mikel is a strong time trialist, being a former junior and U23 national champion, and he showed it with a tenth place in the Giro this year.
His lucky number is 13 and he has the Basque word for thirteen – Hamahiru – tattooed on his arm. He is a fan of Basque indie music and just proudly Basque in general.
Xabier Mikel made his debut as a cycling commentator this Tour de France but won’t be available for the Vuelta as he will be busy at the front of the peloton for the next three weeks.
Fabio Christen – 23 years old – Gippingen, Switzerland
Fabio makes his Grand Tour debut this Vuelta. The puncheur from Switzerland really had his breakthrough this year with his first pro win in Murcia and a second in Slovenia.
His preparation for the Vuelta a España started in Vuelta a Burgos where he left a strong impression and in Circuit Franco-Belge and the ADAC Cyclassics where he showed his form. Fabio will find stages with a punchy finale to his liking in the Vuelta, tolerating the heat in Spain well and is eager to experience Grand Tour racing.
Fabio likes cooking and makes a good chicken curry with some extra vegetables that would please Adam, our nutritionist.
There will be quite some spice in it but not that the house catches fire
Marcel Camprubí – 23 years old – Barcelona, Spain
Marcel is also a Grand Tour debutant. His progress this year has been spectacular.
The Spanish rider who comes from triathlon and only started his pro career in 2022 has proven time and time again he is ready for this big step up.
He finished his first Monuments in Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April and his first World Tour stage race in Switzerland in June. Marcel is a strong rider and a fast learner, The Vuelta will be all about personal discovery, finding his boundaries and helping the team.
Marcel started in rugby and was good at it because he was fast but then when everyone started to grow and he didn’t, he – his own words – was afraid he would be killed.
David de la Cruz – 36 years old – Sabadell, Spain but lives in Andorra
There isn’t a more experienced rider on the team than David de la Cruz.
This will be his 11th Vuelta a España. It’s a race that holds huge significance to David because it’s his home race.
It’s also where he won his first pro race back in 2016 and even got to wear the leader’s jersey. This season Tom and David worked really well together in the Tirreno Adriatico.
David also had podiums in Abruzzo and Sibiu Tour. He was the runner-up at the Spanish time trial championships so the time trial in Vallodolid will be on his radar.
David is a proud Catalan and advices you all to at least ride the road between Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Tossa Del Mar once in your life.
David González – 29 years old –Ávila, Spain
David returns to the Vuelta after having participated for the first time in 2023. He lives in Ávila where many great Vuelta stages finished in the past.
David is a well-liked person on the team with his ever-present smile and tireless work ethic. He has a strong sprint after hard races and is quite familiar to the Spanish roads and heat.
He also represented the team in the Tour of Flanders this year where his entire family flew over to support him. He is a proud dad to Luca who can often be spotted wearing a Q36.5 jersey in front of the television on race days.
This Vuelta Luca gets the chance to cheer for his dad in real life, especially in the time trial in Vallodolid which is close to home.
This year David made spectacular progress in learning English and we assure you, it’s not just the bad words.
Damien Howson – 33 years old – Adelaide Australia, but lives in Andorra
Damien is an experienced allround rider who starts his 12th Grand Tour. This is his sixth Vuelta, ten years after his debut in 2015.
Damo, as everyone calls him, got spotted through a state talent identification programme. He came from basketball despite being – his words – ‘a short ass’. The programme thought cycling would be a good fit and indeed it was.
He is not short anymore at 1m88 so he literally grew into the sport, from a frame size 46 to a 56 now.
Damo prepared for this Vuelta, his second Grand Tour of the season, in Vuelta a Burgos where he was fifth in the queen stage. Earlier this season he finished seventh on Green Mountain in Oman and was fourth on GC.
Nick Zukowsky – 27 years old – Saint Lucie, Canada but lives in Andorra
Our Canadian with Ukrainian roots (a few generations back) made his Grand Tour debut in the Giro d’Italia this May but sadly this ended after only four stages when he broke his collarbone.
After a lenghty recovery he returned showing some good form in the Spanish races in Getxo and Burgos. Nick can always be spotted near his Andorra neighbour Tom Pidcock.
His job is an easy one on paper: protect Tom so he can get his best result. This means that ‘Zuke’ has really stepped up in all the big races alongside his team leader. And he always did it with a smile.
Nick is a rider who does well on a variety of terrains: from Flemish-style Classics to Ardennes terrain and demanding stage races. He once made the switch from mountain to road bike because in Tuscon, Arizona where the Zukowsky family lived at the time, rattlesnakes were all over his mountain bike trails.
French is his first language, but he is fluent in English too.
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