CALPE, Spain (AFP) — Britain’s Tom Pidcock will sit out the Tour de France but admitted the legendary event was very much on his radar for 2026 where he will look to bolster his credentials as a “game-changer.”

The 25-year-old, who claimed victory on the iconic Alpe d’Huez stage of the Tour on his 2022 debut, enters the new season with the Q36.5 team after a four-year spell with Ineos Grenadiers.

However, his new Swiss-based outfit are in the second tier of the sport and therefore are not automatically placed in the sport’s three Grand Tours. Instead they are at the mercy of invitations.

“The idea of not going to the Tour this year and, I hope, coming back in 2026 with increased desire suits me,” Pidcock told a small group of journalists, including AFP, in Calpe, in the southeast of Spain, where his team is training.

Pidcock, a two-time Olympic mountain bike champion, is no stranger to success on the road — he was victorious at the 2023 Strade Bianche and last year’s Amstel Gold Race.

Although he will miss the Tour de France, he hopes to feature at the Giro d’Italia.

“We’ll have to wait until it’s confirmed, but I would like to be in Strade, Sanremo, and then the Giro is also a possibility,” Pidcock said.

“But we don’t know yet. I think the biggest question mark is probably the Giro, but I guess we should know pretty soon.”

Pidcock admitted that his decision to leave top-tier Ineos came after a “difficult” 2024 season for both parties.

His 2024 Tour de France hopes were ended by Covid, a little over two weeks before the Paris Olympics.