Tom Pidcock has abandoned the Tour de France after showing symptoms of Covid-19, Ineos Grenadiers has announced.
The Briton was competing in his third successive Tour and was hunting for stage wins, while his teammates Carlos Rodríguez and Egan Bernal ride for the general classification.
Pidcock, 24, finished second on stage nine of the race, but has otherwise been an anonymous figure in the first two weeks.
Before the race entered the Pyrenees, his team confirmed that he would be leaving the race. “A disappointed Tom Pidcock will not line up for stage 14 of the Tour de France today,” a statement from Ineos read. “Tom is experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 and under advice from our medical team will now return home to recover.
Pidcock’s big summer aim is retaining his mountain bike title in the Olympic Games, and he was hoping to ride himself into race-winning form at the Tour.
In 2022, his first participation in the Tour, he won on Alpe d’Huez, and twice came close to winning in 2023.
At the start of this year’s race in Florence, Pidcock said that it was “better” that Ineos’ head of racing, Steve Cummings, was not at the race as lead DS.
Other than Pidcock almost winning the gravel stage in Troyes on the second weekend – he was out-sprinted for the win by TotalEnergies’ Anthony Turgis – the team have struggled to make an impact so far, although Rodríguez does sit fifth on GC ahead of the Pyrenees and Alps.
Pidcock, largely an unknown quantity in riding for the general classification, wants to try to win the yellow jersey in 2025. That could mean sacrificing his multi-discipline approach to the sport, and temporarily reducing the amount of cyclocross and mountain bike races he competes in.
The current mountain bike world champion and a former holder of the rainbow bands in cyclocross, he has won five races on the road since turning professional in 2021.