With today’s announcement that Tom Pidcock’s Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team has received a wildcard invitation to the 2025 Giro d’Italia, the question now is how far a ProTeam can go in a race so often dominated by WorldTour heavyweights.
For Q36.5, it marks a significant milestone. Since the team’s relaunch under Doug Ryder in 2023, they have made steady progress, and in 2025 have already enjoyed their most successful start to a season. Now, with the chance to compete in their first Grand Tour, the team (and Pidcock in particular) will be under the spotlight.
But if recent history is any guide, success for wildcard teams at the Giro has become increasingly rare.
At the 2024 Giro d’Italia, four ProTeams were granted wildcard entries: Israel–Premier Tech, Polti–Kometa, Tudor Pro Cycling Team, and VF Group–Bardiani–CSF–Faizanè. Despite active racing from all four, none of them managed to win a stage.
While a few riders featured in breakaways and animated the race, the victories all went elsewhere. And we’re certain that Tadej Pogacar played a role in that.
Making his Giro debut, the Slovenian star won six stages and took control of the general classification, making it difficult for any team (ProTeam or otherwise) to seriously challenge for the spoils.
Greedy!
There have been several times in recent years however when a ProTeam came out on top at the Giro. For example in 2019, when Italian rider Damiano Cima secured a dramatic victory on Stage 18 while riding for Nippo–Vini Fantini–Faizanè.
Cima had been part of the breakaway and held off a fast-charging peloton by mere metres to take the win in Santa Maria di Sala. It was not only a huge moment for Cima, but a significant result for his team, a rare moment in recent years where a wildcard squad stood atop a Giro podium.
It was the kind of day every ProTeam dreams of at a Grand Tour, a true underdog story. And there are several others in recent history too.
None other than Mathieu van der Poel took the opening stage of the Giro in 2022, when his team was yet to become the superpower that Alpecin-Deceuninck are today. That same year, Stefano Oldani took a stage win for the same team (then called Alpecin-Fenix), in what was a superb race for the squad.
As recently as 2023, Davide Bais took a stage win for Eolo-Kometa. So these results show that whilst Pidcock has a difficult task ahead of him, it is not impossible for him to have success in Italy this May.
It is however true that the growing financial and logistical gap between ProTeams and their WorldTour counterparts continues to make life harder for smaller squads, especially over a demanding three-week race like the Giro.
That’s the backdrop against which Q36.5 will enter the 2025 edition. But this time, the equation might be a little different. With Tom Pidcock leading the team, Q36.5 are not arriving in Italy to merely make up the numbers. Pidcock has won Olympic titles, classics and a stage at the Tour de France and has the ability to animate hilly stages, launch explosive attacks, and win from breakaways. His supreme ability makes him a genuine threat, and a wildcard team with a proven winner always has the potential to shake up the race.
Even so, expectations should remain grounded. Recent history suggests that just competing at the front, placing riders in breakaways, and maintaining visibility throughout the race would represent a solid debut.
The 2025 Giro d’Italia offers Q36.5 a golden opportunity. And while ProTeam stage wins are rare, they’re not impossible. With momentum behind them, the sheer talent of Pidcock, and a chance to make history, they’ll be one of the most intriguing teams to watch when the peloton rolls out in May.
We can certainly expect action from Mr Pidcock and his new team next month.
