Against the Odds: A Grand Tour Podium

On Sunday, Tom Pidcock and Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team achieved something that few thought possible in modern cycling: a UCI ProTeam stepping onto the podium of a Grand Tour.

For as long as we can remember, cycling’s biggest stage races have been dominated by WorldTour giants. With deeper budgets, decades of infrastructure, and long-established rosters, the podium in Madrid, Rome or Paris has almost always been their preserve. Yet in 2025, a wildcard team, proved that resilience, preparation, and belief can rewrite the script.

The Wildcard that Changed Everything

When La Vuelta organisers extended us a wildcard invitation, they gave us both an opportunity and a responsibility. Every wildcard means another team stays home, so every kilometre raced is a chance to prove that faith right.

We took those lessons from the Giro, our first ever Grand Tour earlier this season, and turned them into a clear plan. By the time the Vuelta arrived, we were not only prepared to race, we were prepared to contend

The Breakthrough of a Career

Tom Pidcock rode with courage and calculation, climbing from contender to podium finisher across three weeks of brutal racing.
As he said from home today:

“Yeah, I feel proud. I feel happy. Think the biggest thing is now I’m free of being on a schedule every day, focused on recovering, and now I can sit in the sun and not need to worry about it. It’s probably the biggest achievement of my career so far… this third place feels like a win. But it also makes me believe I could fight for more in the future.”

For Tom, the podium is more than a result. It’s proof of what’s possible, both for him as an athlete and for a team writing a new chapter in professional cycling.

A Milestone for the Team

General Manager Doug Ryder reflected on what this means for the organisation:

“It’s still a bit surreal to have a rider on the team who now stands amongst the greats of cycling on a Grand Tour podium. It’s remarkable we are now one of the teams who have a rider who achieved that podium place after a gruelling three weeks of intense racing. Our goal was a top ten, our dream a top five, but a podium is exceeding all our dreams. And all that in only our second Grand Tour since Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team started three years ago.”

He continued:

“This has always been a dream in all the teams we have run throughout the years and for many years it seemed an unattainable dream. It’s a privilege to now have built something with all our partners and with our incredibly professional staff members to attract a rider like Tom Pidcock. We have been able to create an environment where one of the best riders in the world feels comfortable, valued and supported by some of the most incredible people in the cycling business. This achievement by Tom has lifted the entire team. With the right people, the right environment and the right culture you can attract the best of the best, on and off the bike. That makes me very proud of this team and everyone involved.”

Why It Matters

A Grand Tour podium by a ProTeam isn’t just rare. It’s almost unheard of in recent years. It shows that cycling’s hierarchy is not absolute, that opportunity can still be seized by those who were not supposed to be there.

It also highlights the collective: the soigneurs, coaches, sports directors, doctors, nutritionists, mechanics, and staff who gave 99% of the effort behind the scenes. And the partners whose innovations in apparel, nutrition, recovery, and technology delivered the final one percent of advantage.

Beyond Madrid

This podium is not the end of our story. It is a milestone that confirms our philosophy works: Race Sharp. Prepare with Precision. Be Better Together.

We stood as underdogs in in a parking lot in Madrid, and showed that belief, commitment, and unity can overcome expectation.

For Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, the journey is only just beginning.

Gregarius Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team Jersey

Color: 2025 | Size: M

For 2025 our Official Research Scientists will be using the Q36.5 Gregarius Jersey, combining 4 proprietary fabrics with advanced body-mapping to offer the highest-performing balance of aerodynamics, comfort and thermoregulation in the peloton. As with all Q36.5 products, it is our ability to intelligently combine deep research into all three of these areas into a single, highly-versatile, jersey that offers the rider the true performance advantage across an incredibly wide range of temperatures, weather conditions and riding intensities.

Variants from €0.00

€82.05 €117.22

Dottore PRO Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team Bib Shorts Black

Color: Black | Size: M

To wear a pair of Dottore bib shorts is to feel the difference from the very first pedal stroke, as though guided by an invisible mentor: compact, supported and aligned muscle fibers, total comfort and control of the bicycle and your pedaling action. For 2025 we are offering this iconic product that employs apparel technologies whose use in cycling was pionnered by Q36.5, to our athletes for the very first time.

Variants from €0.00

€176.72 €252.46

Gregarius Q36.5 Pro Team Off-Road Jersey Gold-White

Color: Gold-White | Size: M

For his 2025 MTB season, the reigning Olympic champion Tom Pidcock will debut a new Q36.5 Gregarius Pro jersey graphic dedicated to his Paris Gold Medal. Designed with in a hyper-sharp visual style that represents both Tom and the brand’s approach to performance, the jersey graphic is in fact an oversized pattern created from the Q36.5 logo, repeated continuously throughout the jersey in a gold on white color scheme. The jersey itself is a team-issue variation on our Gregarius Clima with several pro-only upgrades.

Variants from €0.00

€126.23

Base Layer 1 Sleeveless Ice Grey

Color: Ice Grey | Size: S-M

The Q36.5 Base Layer 1 represents our technologically extreme vision of the traditional seamless base layer that provides optimal moisture management thanks to our use of the cutting-edge Karl Mayer Seamless knitting machines. The seamless design uses multiple integrated yarn structures with varying densities to pull sweat away from the skin and move it to an outer layer where it can evaporate.

Variants from €0.00

€54.10

Unique Pro Road Shoes White

Color: White | Shoe Size: 37

Engineered for total control, the Q36.5 Unique Pro Shoes use proprietary Italian manufacturing technologies to achieve a new level of stability, power, and comfort for riders, allowing you to push yourself to the limit with a renewed level of confidence. At the heart of the shoe’s superior performance is a market-leading 4.4mm stack height. The artisanal carbon fiber sole is made in Montebelluna using a patent-pending layup. The outsole also features an extra wide metatarsal area for guaranteed comfort across different foot sizes and a cupped heel for increased stability. A signature of all Q36.5’s racing shoes, the Unique Pro Shoes feature no tongue but rather use a proprietary mesh panel across the bridge of the foot in order to maximize the shoes’ cooling effect. No other racing shoe on the market offers such a large and effective ventilating surface, representing an additional example of our commitment to thermoregulation as the new frontier for performance gains as well as rider comfort and health.

Variants from €0.00

€495.90

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