Tom Pidcock has been awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), receiving the honour at Windsor Castle ‘for services to cycling’.
The British racer was one of 12 cyclists handed honours as part of the British New Year’s Honours list last December.
Pidcock was awarded a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the British New Year’s Honours list back in 2022 following his gold medal in the cross-country mountain bike race at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Now he’s received the higher honour of the OBE after adding another gold to his tally after beating Frenchman Victor Koretzky to win the event again at the Paris Olympic Games last summer.
Pidcock, who recently completed the first half of his 2025 road campaign at the Giro d’Italia, showed off his new honour in an Instagram post simply captioned ‘OBE’.
The 25-year-old is currently in the middle of his first season with the Swiss Q36.5 Pro Cycling team following a transfer from British squad Ineos Grenadiers. He started 2025 strongly with an overall win at the AlUla Tour and podiums at Strade Bianche and La Fleche Wallonne, but admitted at the end of the Giro that it’s been a long first half of his season.
“It’s been a long block, to be honest,” he told Cyclingnews. “Starting with a new team, you know it’s always going to be difficult. I think the motivation was super high to start really well, which I did.
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“I think when everything is perfect and when you’re fresh in the head, it all goes well. I think it’s time for a little break and hopefully come back fighting in the second half of the year.”
Pidcock is set to target the Vuelta a España in the second part of the season.
He follows in the wheeltracks of a host of British cyclists who have received honours for their services to cycling. Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish, Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny and Laura Kenny have all received knighthoods and damehoods. Victoria Pendleton holds a CBE, while Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas hold OBEs.
In addition to Pidcock’s honour, nine other racers were awarded honours in the wake of the Paris Olympics.
Double gold-winning Paralympian Jaco van Gass was awarded an OBE after winning the C3 individual pursuit and C1-5 mixed team sprint last summer. Emma Finucane, Katy Marchant, and Sophie Capewell were all awarded MBEs after winning Great Britain’s first gold medal in the women’s team sprint.
Paralympic double gold tandem winner Sophie Unwin and Jennie Holl also received MBE awards, as did Lizzi Jordan and Danni Khan, who won the women’s B1 1000m time trial, and Fin Graham, who won the C1-3 road race. Away from racing, two cycling activists, Val French and Christopher Sprules, were handed British Empire Medals for services to cycling.
