Tom Pidcock wins gold in Olympics mountain bike after fighting back from puncture
Three years ago in Tokyo, Pidcock became the first Briton to win an Olympic medal in cross-country mountain bike and has since shown his incredible talent to win the world and European titles in the discipline, while on the road, he’s won a stage of the Tour de France as well as Strade Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race.
Also a former world cyclo-cross champion, he arrived at Elancourt Hill – the highest point in the Paris region at 231m – on Monday as favourite for the gold, despite pulling out of the Tour de France with Covid only 16 days ago.
In previous days he had described the course as “a bit bland” – but that will not matter now.
After a slow start, Pidcock quickly pushed his way to the front of the field but the puncture on the fourth lap, and a slower than ideal wheel change after seemingly catching his team off-guard, saw him tumble down the standings to ninth.
“You are used to things going well so even my mechanic wasn’t ready for it,” said Pidcock. “He did a super-fast change in the end, my bike was perfect apart from my mistake of puncturing.”
He got under way again 36 seconds down on French leader Koretzky, who stayed out on his own at the front, much to the delight of the home fans cheering his every pedal push.
But remarkably, Pidcock started to close the gap, and by the end of the fifth of eight laps had reeled back in the group – also featuring Aldridge – battling for bronze, with South Africa’s Alan Hatherly ahead in silver medal position.
Pidcock was never going to settle for the bottom step of the podium, though.
On the seventh lap he trailed Koretzky by just five seconds, making the catch to go neck-and-neck into the final trip around the 4.4km circuit.
But then Koretzky took his moment, springing a surprise on the leading Briton to take over at the front going into the final descent.
Roared on, it looked as though the Frenchman would not relinquish his lead this time. But never rule out Pidcock.
Descending, he worked his way around the obstacles in his way, veering to take a different path to Koretzky and while they briefly came together, it was a decision that paid off to bring Pidcock a titanic victory, his arms outstretched as he crossed the finish line nine seconds clear of Koretzky.
Bronze went to Hatherly, a further two seconds behind.
Pidcock later called it his most “emotionally draining” victory – but refused to be drawn on whether he will return to defend his title a second time at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
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