The Big Three does not exist
The proof of the pudding is in the dog licking
The Big Two. The Big Three. The Fab Four. We like to shovel these terms on top of which ever few riders happen to be the most successful at the time.
Pogacar and Vingegaard. The Big Two.
Contador, Nibali, Quintana and Froome. The Fab Four.
Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pidcock. The Big Three.
Wait, what? Pidcock?!
Yes, Pidcock. It was the title of an article on Velonews as recently as this week, referencing the three of them. The Big Three and their planned returns (or not) to the stage of their bigness, cyclo cross. In fact it was worse than that, it was referred to as ‘the Big Three era’.
The “Big 3” of modern cyclocross — Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock — are keeping things light and tight ahead of the 2025-26 World Cup racing season that kicks off this weekend. The full UCI World Cup calendar resumes this weekend at Tábor, and the peloton’s three biggest crossover stars continue to be selective in which events they’ll dip into as things heat up in the mud.
Well I am here to break down the numbers and present in unequivocal terms that considering Pidcock on the same terms as Van der Poel and Van Aert is like referring to Pogacar, Vingegaard and Florian Lipowitz as the big three of the Tour de France.
If these seems like a deliberate and unnecessary attack on Pidcock, it is. Pidcock is in the bad books for three reasons.
His dogs. He is the absolute worst flavour of dog owner. The type of dog owner that treats being a dog owner like it’s a condition. Like the rest of the world has to make special accommodations because of him and his unfortunate circumstances. Nobody gives a shite about your dogs apart from you Tom Pidcock.
He contacted us at GCN asking for a free subscription worth £40 despite being paid a reported £5m a year.
In his email asking for a free subscription, he referred to himself as ‘Pidcock’.
How many cyclo-cross races do you think Tom Pidcock has won during his career? Take a moment and come up with a number in your head.
Got one? Are you sure?
I’ll give you a clue, the correct answer is almost but not quite half the total number that Van der Poel has won in his career. Does that help?
