Tom Pidcock given green light to chase Tour de France stage wins and two Olympic golds

The fact a former Tour winner in Geraint Thomas is also in the team frees Pidcock up to chase stage wins, as he did so spectacularly on Alpe d’Huez back in 2022.

Then a week after the Tour finishes in Nice, Pidcock heads to the Paris Olympics where he will attempt to win a second mountain bike gold medal at Elancourt Hill on Monday, July 29, before swapping back onto his road bike five days later for the road race.

He approaches each of those challenges in strong form, having won a mountain bike World Cup race in Switzerland at the weekend, just days after a strong showing on the road at the traditional pre-Tour de France stage race, the Tour de Suisse. “Preparation for the Tour this year has gone really well and I feel like I’m in a really good place ahead of it," said Pidcock, who admitted to being ill-suited to being Ineos’ general classification contender when circumstances forced it upon him at last year’s race.

“We’ve selected a team that’s going to provide opportunities for us to continue to race in a way that’s very exciting for me personally, and the team.

“I’ve won a Tour stage before and that’s really something I would love to do again, it was one of the best days on the bike.

"The opening few stages this year presents a real opportunity but of course there are many riders with eyes on the yellow jersey.

“After a block at altitude and then getting back to racing at the Tour de Suisse, I was improving every day and I had my best day on the TT bike, which is very promising and certainly the right direction I want to be going in at the moment.”