Updated January 7, 2026 07:08AM
Tom Pidcock is heading to South America in search of thin air and thinner crowds.
For years, the slopes of Mount Teide on Tenerife have been the go-to choice for early-season altitude camps for the WorldTour elite, but it’s also notoriously overcrowded.
The lone hotel perched on the edge of the 12,000-foot-plus volcano is booked up for years by the top WorldTour teams.
So what’s an aspiring Tour de France challenger to do? Head to the South American Andes, of course.
Chile, to be exact.
That’s where Pidcock and some of his Pinarello-Q36.5 teammates will decamp this month.
Speaking to The Newspaperthe team’s head of performance said the quest for altitude and high performance knows no boundaries.
“There is only one hotel at altitude on Teide, and there are also several lodges. In terms of places, it is very limited there,” Kurt Bogaerts told The Newspaper. “[Going to Chile] was a matter of finding solutions to go on a high-altitude training camp.”
Altitude arms race expands
The decision to roam as far away as Chile reveals just how valuable the rarified air is among the WorldTour elite.
Altitude camps are now standard operating procedure for the peloton’s top stars, and places like Teide, Sierra Nevada, and Livigno are buzzing with the biggest names in cycling.
But finding a base of operations can be tricky, especially for early-season camps held over the winter.
Destinations like Sierra Nevada and Livigno are snowbound for months, leaving Teide as the only real choice for many European pros from December to March.
The Spanish volcano is so popular that teams like Visma-Lease a Bike have booked up rooms years in advance.
That high-altitude over-booking has led to a booming side-hustle of locals renting out mountain villas to riders like Chris Froome.
For 2026, things were so crowded on Teide that Pinarello-Q36.5 decided to look even further beyond.
Bogaerts and team staffers broke out the atlas and decided Chile would be an ideal base of operations.
Why Chile works
Chile hit all the boxes.
With South America baking in mid-summer conditions, Chile offered warm weather, open roads, and altitude away from the Teide congestion.
“You want to have a camp somewhere where the climate is good enough to train, so that you don’t have to constantly improvise,” Bogaerts said. “Even now at this time of the year [on Teide] you sometimes have bad weather, so you have to drive to the valley to start training.”
The team found a former ski area just east of Santiago that offered high elevation, plenty of rooms, and an expansive road network.
“Our camp is similar to Tenerife. There is one mountain where we stay and you can climb it from different sides”, Bogaerts told CNB. “It used to be a ski area there. We will be at an altitude of 2,700 meters.
“The roads are good. There are seven or eight routes that the riders can take in training, so there will be plenty of variety. We will also discover new routes after we get there,” Bogaerts said.
“The advantage is that it is now the beginning of summer there, so it will be around 30 degrees in Santiago, and around 15 to 20 degrees on the mountain.”
All roads lead to France
The Chilean adventure underscores how top teams are investing big bucks into training camps and every competitive advantage they can find.
The South American sojourn also fits a bigger arc for Pidcock and the team coming into this season.
On the heels of the team’s big 2025 campaign, Pinarello joins as lead co-sponsor, and the team has signed an arsenal of WorldTour heavyweights to push the accelerator.
New arrivals include sprinter Sam Bennett from Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, Xandro Meurisse and Quinten Hermans from Alpecin-Deceuninck, and climbing aces Eddie Dunbar and Chris Harper from Jayco-AlUla.
The team also bolstered its all-around firepower with Fred Wright from Bahrain Victorious, Aimé De Gendt from Cofidis, and Thomas Gloag from Visma-Lease a Bike.
All eyes will be on Pidcock, who reached a new level in the wake of his blockbuster exit from Ineos Grenadiers.
After Pidcock’s breakout 2025 — highlighted by his first pro GC win, runner-up to Tadej Pogačar at Strade Bianche, and a Podium at the Vutches of Spain — the team is hoping for a ticket to the Tour de France.
Pidcock has yet to confirm his 2026 program, but he’s expected to see a mix of early-season stage races and select one-day classics, with all roads leading toward France.
It all starts high in the Andes of South America.
