Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team

Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling is the registered name; most media and fans call the simply Q36.5. The UCI code is Q36.

The team races as a UCI ProTeam, the second tier below WorldTour. It targets invitations to WorldTour events, including Grand Tours and Monument, while anchoring its season around ProSeries and .Pro.1 races.

Launched for 2023 under Team Principal Douglas Ryder, the project revives the competitive and purpose‑driven ethos of the MTN–Qhubeka/Dimension Data/NTT/Qhubeka lineage, rebuilding as a Swiss ProTeam with modern performance structures and a strong development pipeline.

Title partners are Pinarello, the Italian high end bike manufacturer, and Q36.5, an Italian performance cycling apparel brand. The team races on Pinarello’s Dogma F for road stages and the Bolide for time trials, paired with top tier electronic groupsets and fully integrated cockpits, while the wheel and tyre choices follow a tubeless first approach aimed at speed, stability and reliability across a wide range of conditions.

The organisation has raced under names including MTN–Qhubeka, Team Dimension Data, NTT Pro Cycling and Team Qhubeka NextHash, before being relaunched as Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team in 2023 and now competing as Pinarello-Q36.5 Pro Cycling.

Across the programme’s lineage, the standout moments include Gerald Ciolek’s surprise win at Milan–San Remo in 2013, plus a run of Tour de France stage victories led by Mark Cavendish, with memorable breakaway wins for Steve Cummings and later Michael Woods. 

The structure has also taken Grand Tour stages at the Giro and the Vuelta, including Alex Dowsett’s Giro time trial win in 2020 and Dan Martin’s stages in the Vuelta in 2020 and the Giro in 2021. Add to that leaders’ and KOM jerseys at major races, and a track record of bringing African and international riders through to the sport’s top tier.

From the programme’s wider lineage, the roll call includes Mark Cavendish, Steve Cummings and Edvald Boasson Hagen, all Tour de France stage winners within the structure, as well as Gerald Ciolek, who delivered a landmark Milan San Remo victory in 2013. 

The project also produced a Grand Tour breakthrough through Ben O’Connor, winner of Giro d’Italia stage 17 in 2020, and helped open doors for African riders such as Daniel Teklehaimanot, who wore the Tour de France mountains jersey in 2015, and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg. T

Tom Pidcock headlines as the all terrain spearhead for Monuments and punchy stage finishes, with Fred Wright and Quinten Hermans forming the backbone of the classics group alongside Brent Van Moer, Frederik Frison, Sjoerd Bax, Kamil Małecki and road captain Aimé De Gendt.

The sprint setup is built around Sam Bennett, with Matteo Moschetti and Emīls Liepiņš offering alternative finishing options, while Nicolò Parisini and Nickolas Zukowsky handle positioning and add punch in reduced sprints. For stage races and climbing heavy terrain, Eddie Dunbar and David De la Cruz lead the GC ambitions, supported by Harm Vanhoucke and Thomas Gloag, with Chris Harper, Damien Howson, Matteo Badilatti, Mark Donovan and Walter Calzoni providing depth and durability. Milan Vader adds bike handling and explosiveness shaped by his MTB background, especially on technical and hilly finishes.

Fabio Christen, Xandro Meurisse and David González bring versatility for rolling stages and breakaways, while Xabier Mikel Azparren and Marcel Camprubí strengthen the engine room for crosswinds, time trials and medium mountain days. Development talents Joseph Pidcock and Emmanuel Houcou complete a roster designed to win across sprints, selective climbs and northern one day races.