Thrills and spills as Pidcock takes mountain bike gold

Three hundred and twenty-eight other gold medals will be handed out at these Paris Games, but surely none will be won as dramatically as this. Tom Pidcock lost the race to a puncture, won it back, then lost it again to the determined Frenchman Victor Koretzky before pulling off a do-or-die overtake around a tree to defend his Olympic title.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

It was a superhuman display of racing. On the third of eight 4.4km laps, Pidcock was forced to stand still for half a minute while a frazzled mechanic changed his punctured front tyre and rivals whizzed by. He lost 36 seconds in all but soon began picking them off, one by one. Koretzky had watched Pidcock’s race dismantle firsthand as he took the lead, so what must he have thought when he turned a hairpin four laps and 40 minutes later to see Pidcock reincarnated?

In the final throes they went wheel to wheel, and in a wooded section of the course with trees peppering the middle of the track, Pidcock threw everything at gold, diving down the inside lane and emerging at the next bend half a wheel in front. They came together and made contact, Koretzky’s left foot was briefly dislodged from his pedal, and Pidcock sped away to emotional glory.

He fell into the arms of his family waiting at the finish, as some in the disappointed French crowd booed him. They were understandably frustrated but Pidcock had done nothing wrong.