After a high-profile move from Ineos Grenadiers to Q36.5 in the off-season, Tom Pidcock has got straight back to winning ways.
The British star surged to victory on stage two of the AlUla Tour on Wednesday, notching his first win aboard his new Scott Addict RC.
As well as a big change in team environment, Pidcock’s move also brings a complete overhaul of his bike and equipment setup.
Unlike at Ineos, Pidcock has not one, but two, road bikes to choose from, helping him to optimise things according to the race parcours.
Let’s take a look at Pidcock’s two road bikes and analyse how his setup compares to the Pinarello Dogma F he used previously. We’ll also run the rule over his new kit.
Framesets – from Pinarello to Scott
Unlike Pinarello, which makes one all-rounder race bike (the Dogma F), Scott makes two dedicated bikes for road racing – the super-light Addict RC and the aero Foil RC.
While this poses a dilemma for riders about which bike to choose for each race, it also offers a greater ability to optimise for differing scenarios.
While Pidcock rode the Addict RC to his win on stage two’s uphill finish, for example, he opted for the Foil RC for the rolling parcours of stages one and three.
While Scott hasn’t published data to enable us to compare the aerodynamic performance of the two framesets, we know there’s a significant difference in weight between the two frames.
According to Scott, an Addict RC frame weighs only 640g, plus 270g for the fork, in a size medium.
In its lightest guise, with Syncros wheels and components, Scott claims the Addict RC can weigh as little as 5.9kg without pedals.
Of course, thanks to the pesky UCI minimum bike weight limit, Pidcock’s bike will weigh at least 6.8kg.
Our experience from recent Tours de France shows that’s a rare thing within the pro peloton, though, with most pro bikes weighing in at around 7.4kg at last year’s race.
In comparison, a Foil RC HMX SL frameset weighs 450g more, with a 915g frame plus a 445g fork, also in a size medium.
When we tested the Foil RC Pro (which uses a cheaper and slightly heavier carbon layup on the frame compared to the RC HMX SL version), our size-56cm test bike weighed 7.43kg with a pro-spec build. So while Pidcock’s Foil may be a little lighter than our test bike, it likely doesn't weigh 6.8kg ready to race.
With an 865g claimed frame weight in a size 53, the all-rounder Dogma F unsurprisingly lands somewhere in between the two Scott bikes.
Groupset – goodbye Shimano, hello SRAM
Another big shift (get it?) for Pidcock is the move from Shimano to SRAM groupsets.
Although he’s used Shimano groupsets since joining the WorldTour in 2021, Pidcock is no stranger to SRAM, having used its previous Red eTap AXS groupset when riding for Trinity Racing and Team Wiggins Le Col.
This year, Pidcock is using SRAM’s latest Red AXS groupset, which is claimed to be the lightest electronic road bike groupset currently available.
According to our tester, Warren Rossiter, the new shifter ergonomics and improved braking put the groupset on a par with Shimano’s flagship Dura-Ace Di2 R9200 groupset.
Clearly, Pidcock has been able to switch seamlessly between the two as well.
Wheels – Zipp enters the fray
Pidcock is also off Shimano wheels this year, and is using Zipp wheels from SRAM’s stable of brands.
So far, he looks to have been using Zipp’s 454 NSW wheelset for every stage.
These wheels feature 58mm-deep rims, with a sawtooth profile inspired by the tubercles found on humpback whale fins.
With a claimed weight of only 1,428g, though, it’s also a relatively lightweight package.
Compared to the Shimano wheels Pidcock used for road racing at Ineos (the team uses Princeton wheels for time trials), the Zipps are notably more progressive.
Sawtooth rim profile aside, the 454 NSWs feature a 23mm internal width and hookless rims.
In contrast, Shimano’s C50 wheelset is claimed to weigh 1,461g and uses a conventional, 50mm-deep aerodynamic rim profile, with a 21mm internal width and hooked rims.
Do these small differences make a huge difference to performance? Clearly not – Shimano’s wheels don’t hold Mathieu van der Poel back, after all.
That said, as most cyclists know, tiny gains can make a difference when the margins between winning and losing are so small – so most riders would rather have them than not.
Tyres
According to Dan Bigham, the former UCI Hour Record holder and head of engineering at the Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe WorldTour team, tyres are “the next frontier” of road bike performance, so a team’s tyre sponsor is critical to performance.
For the 2025 season, Q36.5 is using Vittoria tyres, taking Pidcock off the Continentals he was using previously.
For most days, this will see him using the Corsa Pro TLR, a popular choice in the pro peloton, with Vittoria increasing its sponsorship presence in recent years.
According to our rolling resistance test at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub lab, the Corsa Pro TLR consumes around 2.7 watts more power per tyre at 30kph, compared to Continental’s GP5000 S TR.
However, it’s fair to say performance in the lab isn’t everything with bicycle tyres, and the Corsa Pro TLR is highly regarded for its grip and ride feel as well – something a demon descender such as Pidcock will clearly be able to put to good use.
In recent years, we’ve seen an increasing number of riders using time trial tyres for road races, so we might also see Pidcock switching to the Corsa Pro Speed TLR for days when the risk of punctures is relatively small.
Kit – what’s new?
It’s not just a bike change for Pidcock, his cycling kit and helmet sponsors have also been updated for 2025.
In terms of kit, Pidcock has gone from using Gobik at Ineos to kit from title sponsor Q36.5 at his new team.
As is de rigueur in the modern peloton, both brands supply the riders with road-racing speedsuits – which essentially bridge the gap between a classic cycling jersey and a set of bib shorts, and a time-trial skinsuit – and aero socks.
When we tested Le Col's speedsuit in the wind tunnel, the difference between it and a well-fitting jersey and shorts was 3.69 watts at 30kph – and the gap would almost certainly widen significantly at the higher speeds pros race at.
That same test also showed aero helmets make a significant difference (compared to vented ones), and Pidcock has switched from using Kask helmets at Ineos to Scott at Q36.5.
So far, Pidcock has been using the Scott Cadence Plus aero helmet in the AlUla Tour, complete with Red Bull branding as per his personal sponsorship with the energy drinks manufacturer.
One area where Pidcock won’t get as much choice in 2025 is with time-trial helmets.
At Ineos, Pidcock could choose from at least four different time-trial helmets, whereas Scott only makes one (the Split Plus MIPS).
Although Grand Tours have tended towards fewer kilometres of time trials in recent years, the discipline is still crucial for any would-be general classification contender. If Pidcock still has his eyes set on stage race glory, this may be an area we see some development going forward.
Pidcock at least has consistency with his cycling shoes, though, sticking with Specialized’s S-Works Torch model.
