While there were several high-profile rider transfers between the 2024 and 2025 season, including Demi Vollering leaving SD Worx to join FDJ-SUEZ, the story (or saga, given how many column inches were dedicated to the professional divorce) that captured the attention most was the transfer of Tom Pidcock from Ineos to Q36.5.
It has been confirmed that Pidcock will not be racing the Tour de France this year, as the Q36.5 squad did not receive a wildcard entry, but nonetheless the team’s bike, including the all-new Scott Addict, will be on show at many of the biggest races. Unusually, though, Pidcock himself will continue to race on Pinarello bikes when he heads to any MTB events, as well as gravel and cyclocross races.
The team has been riding the aero-focussed Scott Foil for a number of seasons, but this year they will have access to the Scott Addict RC Ultimate, the lightest production road bike on the market.
The team will, however, have a slightly different setup to the off-the-peg model, due to sponsorship arrangements and the ever-present UCI minimum weight limit of 6.8kg. Having a bike that can easily meet the limit however will certainly be of benefit to the team mechanics, and may enable the team to use more aerodynamic, deeper wheels on mountain stages while still maintaining a competitive weight.
For 2025 the Q36.5 team will be running either a Scott Foil or Scott Addict frameset, Zipp wheels in the form of the 454NSW, and Vittoria Corsa Pro tyres, a wheel and tyre combination that made headlines in 2024 following a high-profile incident of the tyre blowing off the rim.
The drivetrain is the top-of-the-range SRAM Red, pedals are from Look and the other contact points in the form of saddle and cockpit are Synchros models, an in-house component brand of Scott.
While the Scott Foil is the older model, our own independent wind tunnel testing concluded that the Scott Foil was one of the most aerodynamic bikes on the market, with our weighting on the calculations placing it second overall, only being outshone over the full sweep of yaw angles (the angle at which the wind hits the rider) by the Factor Ostro VAM.
While we have yet to test the latest Addict RC, it is unlikely that it will perform as well in aerodynamic terms, and so we expect the team to operate a strategy where the Foil is the weapon of choice on most terrain, and the Addict reserved for the high mountains where power to weight takes greater prominence. Given Pidcock is the youngest-ever winner up Alpe d’Huez he may well be glad that the team now has a thoroughly up-to-date climbing machine for the season ahead.
