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Joey Pidcock on the up

One of the new riders on the Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team this year is 23-year-old Joey Pidcock. He is one of the youngest on the team and a neo-pro which already add challenges to a cycling career. Joey added a concussion which took him months to recover from to the equation. Now he feels like he is finally where he should be at the eve of the Tour of Britain.

“The first months of my first year with the team feel like so long ago,” Joey says from his home in Girona. “I think I had a good start to the season but then I crashed out in Laigueglia [on March 5] and had a concussion. I couldn’t train for three weeks. Then I got back to racing a month later but I just never really gained fitness. I just wasn’t progressing at all.”

2 September 2025

Despite not being back at the level he wanted, he did say yes to a late call-up for Paris-Roubaix. He couldn’t turn down such an iconic race he knew from his time in the U23 ranks. Joey made headlines by finishing last: showing that pro cycling is not all glamour and glitz. He showed during those long, lonely kilometers in front of the broomwagon how strong the mind can be. Many interviews followed and the ride inspired many people to push a little bit harder when things get tough.

However, losing an hour on the winner and finishing OTL [outside the time limit] is not what being a pro rider is all about. Joey got back to training full time to get better and feel better. In June the switch eventually came when he started working with his new trainer Clemens Hesse. He felt the legs coming back again.

“Tour de l’Ain in August was the first race I felt the legs were finally coming around. It’s hard to explain if the months before were all still due to the concussion. It’s such a weird thing and sadly I have had a few in the past years. It’s very hard to predict how it goes and when it’s truly behind you. In Tour de l’Ain it finally felt right. It already did before on training when I joined the Vuelta group in Andorra but in Ain it was the first race. I felt we finally found the key again.”

Next up for Joey is the Tour of Britain where he finds some familiar climbs in Wales he knows well from the Junior Tour of Wales.

“I like the Tumble and the last three stages in general. It’s six days and that’s the longest stage race I did this year. It says something about my year,” he says. “I don’t know what to expect and don’t want to overthink it. Everytime I am going well something bad happens. It’s usually fun racing at home although Yorkshire is quite far from the Tour of Britain stages. If you got the legs and feeling confident, then racing at home is nice. Last year I wasn’t good and then you get dropped and see people you know. It sucks racing at home then.”

Being new to a pro team came with all sorts of challenges for Joey, and not all were the training load or harder races. He spoke openly on Instagram about his ADHD, social challenges or whatever label you put on it. He doesn’t care about the labels.

“I did get a lot of reactions to my Instagram post but I don’t really know how to react to all that,” he says honestly. “Working with Clemens helped me a lot. He is a very understanding guy and seems to know how I tick. It’s not easy to explain all the time but he understands. I never experienced any pressure from the team. I work as hard as I can physically but it’s about both. I can be unhappy and fit, or the other way around. Neither works. It’s about both,” he analyses.

“The team in general, and Clemens specifically because I have most contact with him, know that I work hard. They don’t only care about the results. In the end, when the talent is there, it will come out sometime or somewhere. If it doesn’t, what can I do? I try my hardest like many people do. You never know what’s behind someone’s front door. We all just try our best in life.”

General Manager Doug Ryder follows Joey’s progress closely. Progress is never linear in young riders and it’s never only about the results. Joey’s role goes beyond competition only.

“Joe is a rider who never hesitates to put himself into the fight time and time again. That courage and commitment is exactly what we value at Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team,” Doug Ryder said.

“He is always ready to jump into races and give everything for the team, His ride in Paris-Roubaix shows his strong mindset. We were all waiting for him in the Velodrome to see him complete what he started, to honour the history of this sport we all love. The fans who stayed for an hour after the finish applauded him and so did we. I found his ride inspiring to see and many people felt the same, judging from the reactions and media attention he received.”

It’s not only about what Joey does in races. What makes him even more special is the way he contributes to the team outside of the races.

“He’s involved in the windtunnel testing to help us refine our Q36.5 kit,” Ryder emphasizes. “His input strengthens the bigger team and shows his dedication to pushing us all forward together. It’s that selfless team-minded spirit that makes him a valuable member of what we try to achieve together. ”