Breaking down Tom Pidcock’s dramatic charge to mountain-biking glory in Paris
Team GB’s Tom Pidcock delivered one of the most dramatic gold medals of the Paris Olympics in a nail-biting mountain-biking final on Monday. Pidcock defended his title by overtaking his French opponent, Victor Koretzky, with less than a minute of the race remaining. Before the race Pidcock had criticised the Élancourt Hill course, to the west of Paris, calling it “bland”. But racing on it, he produced a win that was anything but.
On the fourth lap disaster struck. Pidcock had a puncture that left him in ninth place, 40 seconds behind Koretzky. He appeared calm as his tyre was changed clumsily in the pit area. But by the end of fifth lap Pidcock had clawed back 15 seconds to put him sixth – and on the seventh lap he overtook Koretzky again. Then it was all down to the eighth and final lap. This is how that unfolded.
1:19 Final lap, Pidcock ahead
By the start of the eighth and final lap Pidcock was slightly ahead, and kept Koretzky at bay for the first couple of minutes of the gruelling hill.
1:22:43 Koretzky overtakes
Cresting the hill, the Frenchman took his opportunity to slip past Pidcock at the last feed zone before speeding down the track – much to the delight of the home fans lining the track beside him.
1:24 Koretzky extends lead
Koretzky continued to increase the distance between him and the defending champion as he sprinted down the track and took several quick and risky descents to keep the gap between him and Pidcock. It appeared that Pidcock had blown himself out trying to haul himself back into contention. The track remained narrow, with no visible space for Pidcock to overtake, with South Africa’s Alan Hatherly seven seconds behind the front two, out of the race for gold.
1:25:43 Pidcock overtakes again
With time starting to run out for the British rider, it seemed a miracle would be needed for him to overtake Koretzky at this late stage. And that is what Pidcock produced.
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In the final few hundred metres, the path split in two, allowing Pidcock down the left side of the track, Koretzky taking the right. Pidcock sped down the inside and as they met at the point where the paths merged back into one, Pidcock emerged just in front of Koretzky’s bike – making contact which slipped Koretzky off his pedal.
The Frenchman lost momentum, allowing Pidcock to speed towards the finish line – leaving his opponent behind to attempt to catch up with him one final time.
1:26:22 Pidcock crosses the finish line
In the final seconds Pidcock looked over his shoulder one last time, nine seconds in front of Koretzky. The Briton held his arms above his head as he crossed the finish line – confirming his Olympic title. Unsurprisingly, the Yorkshireman’s win did not seem to please the French fans in attendance in Paris, who let out a chorus of boos as Pidcock completed the race.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I was in front, and he left the door open. We were racing for a gold medal. I wanted to win as much as he did,” Pidcock said. His opponent agreed. “It’s part of the race,” Koretzky said.