Pidcock overcomes injury setback to take Olympic gold

Ineos Grenadiers star racks up his biggest win yet on a mountain bike

- Vern Pitt

He might be a star of road and cyclo-cross but Tom Pidcock claimed the biggest win yet of his already glittering career on a mountain bike on Monday morning, taking gold in the Olympic cross-country race.

The 21-year-old Leeds-born rider, who rides for Ineos Grenadiers on the road, rode away from the competition on lap three of the seven-lap race to win in serene style over Swiss Mathias Flückiger and Spain’s David Serrano in second and third respectively.

After the finish he said: “I’m always better when I take control myself. I take my own lines, my own speed. Once we started I was fine, all the nerves kind of went and I concentrated on the race. I’m happy this [the Olympic Games] is only every four years because it’s stressful.”

Pidcock’s route to the Tokyo Olympics was far from straightforward as he only qualified for the Games in May, before suffering a broken collarbone shortly after when he was in collision with a car while training.

Coach Kurt Bogaerts said: “From the moment he crashed I was calling different surgeons with the team and from my own contacts to get it fixed as soon as possible.” He added surgeons put a “robust” plate in Pidcock’s collarbone because they knew he was doing mountain bike racing.