After Olympic and Cyclo-cross glory, could triple-threat Tom Pidcock take on this year's Tour de France?

It's been some year for GB cycling star Tom Pidcock.

At Tokyo 2020, in 2021, the 22-year-old from Leeds won the men's cross-country mountain bike event in stunning fashion, having only raced his first MTB World Cup event in May the same year.

"I could have done the road race, but I have a better chance of a medal in the mountain bike, so simple as that. That's why I'm doing this now," he said after an Olympic race he was only selected for at the last minute after the UCI granted a quota place to Team GB.

To complicate his preparations even more, Pidcock suffered a collarbone fracture in the buildup to the Games but none of that stopped the young athlete from climbing onto the top step of the podium at his first Olympic Games.

Pidcock followed up his Tokyo 2020 victory with another notable triumph - this time in January 2022's Cyclo-cross World Championships, where he built a 30-second lead over his rivals en route to victory, crossing the line outstretched on his bike in a superman flex pose after solidifying his position as one of the most complete riders on the circuit.

However, the next step in the journey may be his biggest challenge yet, as talk within his own team turns to the roads and this year's Tour de France.

Taking to the road

In a recent interview with VeloNews, Rod Ellingworth, the Deputy Team Principal of Pidcock's team Ineos Grenadiers put the idea of Pidcock racing the Tour de France firmly on the table.

“I think he’s ready to do the Tour,” Ellingworth said. “I don’t see why not. It would be exciting to see him in the Tour. The actual lines up behind the leaders are long lists and it’s about putting the riders in at the right time. Things always change. I think he’s open to the idea. It’s a long way to go and he’s really concentrating on this block.

“I’m pretty sure that he has the Tour de France in his sights to ride sooner rather than later. So why would you not? For now, though, the focus is on the classics and after that, there will be a little pause and then think about what’s next.”

While nothing is yet set in stone, Ellingworth's words set up the intriguing prospect of seeing the Olympic champion taking on the challenge as soon as this year, less than 12 months after he made his grand tour debut in 2021 at the Vuelta a España.

In Spain, Pidcock came home a respectable 67th, having transitioned to road training just weeks after his Olympic victory. Yet however smooth the adaptation may have seemed from the outside, his reaction after the opening time trial showed just how momentous this particular task had been.

“That was horrible," he said. "I’ve basically had three weeks of holidays. I came and prepared and warmed up and went in wanting to do my best ride but I just didn’t have anything. Up the climb I knew that I couldn’t hold anything and then on the flat I was just cruising home because I couldn’t go deep."

However, with a full season ahead of him, could the Yorkshire-born phenomenon surprise the world with a strong performance in the most famous cycling race in the world?

Preparations on hold but time on his side

Recent events have taken some of the steam out of Pidcock's early road season progress, as two bouts of illness took him out of contention in his last races this month in Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo.

Both times, stomach issues left him unable to finish and his team have taken the matter seriously enough to put his racing schedule on hold until the reasons behind his struggles are found.

"We are going to investigate this. Tom had a blood test on Wednesday and we hope that based on those results we can find a cause," his coach Kurt Bogaerts told HLN.

"His next match would be Dwars door Vlaanderen, but that is now uncertain. We are not going to make a race schedule until this problem is solved."

With just over three months until the beginning of the Tour de France, which takes place from 1-24 July 2022, there is still time for Pidcock to make his debut at the most anticipated road race of the year.

However, even if this precociously talented triple threat doesn't do it in 2022, challenging for the yellow jersey sometime in the future is still very much part of his long-term plan.

"I’m not in the game to be the youngest Tour de France winner, or the youngest this or that," he explained in an interview with Red Bull. "To me, that’s quite irrelevant; it’s about what you’ve achieved at the end of your career.”