Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock broke French hearts to beat Victor Koretzky in a thrilling race and retain the Olympic title he won in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Pidcock’s winning time on the cross-country Olympic course at Élancourt Hill on Monday was 1:26:22. Victor Koretzky (FRA) finished second, +0.09, with Alan Hatherly (RSA) third, +0.11.
The 36 men, representing 27 nations, tackled eight laps of the man-made course that featured fast compacted gravel, a challenging drop-off, and tough rock garden features. For half the race, Koretzky had promised a French double, following Sunday’s victory for Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, but despite the deafening support, it was not to be. Pidcock recovered the time lost due to a puncture to take glory.
“This week, with the Olympics there are so many things to consider by the time you get to the start line. I knew that it would not be easy today,” said the new Olympic Champion, Tom Pidcock. “I knew after the puncture that I had almost five laps, and that’s 50 minutes, so I thought, anything’s possible.
“In the end it was really fast with Victor, I just couldn’t get rid of him! I just had to go for a gap. The Olympics is no different. I’m sorry for him, the support for him was incredible.”
As South Africa’s Alan Hatherly (winner of the most recent UCI World Cup this year at Les Gets, France) and 22-year-old American Riley Amos pushed the early pace, some favourites including Pidcock, Switzerland’s 2016 Olympic Champion Nino Schurter and New Zealand’s Sam Gaze worked their way through the pack.
When Victor Koretzky and Switzerland’s Mathias Flückiger hit the front with a relentless pace, UCI World Champion Pidcock and Schurter joined them, along with Italy’s Luca Braidot, USA’s Christopher Blevins and Germany’s Luca Schwarzbauer, forming a talent-packed lead group.
Half an hour in, Pidcock hit the front and pushed the pace even further, splitting the lead group, taking Flückiger and Koretzky with him, before the Swiss rider was dragged back into the fracturing chasing group that included the second British rider, Charlie Aldridge.
On lap 3, Pidcock pitted with a front puncture, and 29-year-old Koretzky – winner of the test event on the Élancourt course in 2023 – took the lead solo from 2019 E-MTB Cross-country UCI World Champion Hatherly. A chase group formed with Flückiger, Aldridge and Gaze, joined by Pidcock, +38-sec towards half-distance.
With the gap at +25-sec, the Yorkshireman broke from the chasers and bridged to the South African, 17-sec behind the Frenchman, and the duo reeled in the three-time UCI World Cup winner Koretzky on the penultimate lap before the 24-year-old Briton attacked on the climb. The trio took the race right down to the final lap. Attacks from Pidcock tested the pace before the Frenchman and the Briton swapped the lead and came together in the woods in the finale.
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