This road transfer sends seismic waves through the heart of the mountain bike racing circus. Tom Pidcock, double Olympic and world cross-country champion, is moving from the British team Ineos Grenadiers to the Swiss team Q36.5. 

This is remarkable enough in itself, as Ineos is one of the big names on the road racing circuit. It is ranked 7th in the 2024 team standings, while Q36.5 is 25th in the same ranking. 

In recent months, there have been rumblings about Tom Pidcock not being called up for certain road races. Then, two days ago, the news that he was leaving the Ineos Grenadiers. As he has Red Bull as his personal sponsor, many suspected that he was joining Red Bull Hansgrohe. 

The fact that Q36.5 has now won the race for the British all-rounder is surprising. As a man for stage wins in Grand Tours, you would have expected him to be in another top team. However, Q36.5's ambitions are also likely to be higher than 25th place, thanks to team sponsors such as UBS, Mercedes and Breitling.

In addition, the team is backed by commodities billionaire Ivan Glasenberg, which makes it a little easier to explain how one of the most successful mountain bikers of recent years, with notable victories on the road and in cyclocross, ended up on the payroll of a team that is full of talented riders but has no top shots in its ranks.

Filippo Colomobo rode road races for Q36.5. This is also due to the fact that this team also rides Scott. This naturally arouses desires. Who, if not Tom Pidcock, would be a worthy successor to Nino Schurter, who has one more season to go, but at 38 is definitely in the late fall of his career. At 25 years of age, Pidcock still has many seasons ahead of him. 

But what about Pidcock and Scott-Sram now? Team manager Thomas Frischknecht knows nothing. He only just found out about the switch to Q36.5, he wrote when asked by Ride.