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 is slightly ahead, and keeps Koretzky at bay for the first couple of minutes of the gruelling hill.
1:22:43 Koretzky overtakes
Cresting the hill, the Frenchman takes his opportunity to slip past Pidcock at the last feed zone before he speeds down the track – much to the delight of the home fans lining the track.
1:24 Koretzky extends lead
Koretzky continues to increase the distance between him and the defending champion as he sprints down the track and takes several quick and risky descents to keep the gap between him and Pidcock. It appears that Pidcock has blown himself out trying to haul himself back into contention. The track remains narrow, with no visible space for the British rider to overtake, with South Africa’s Alan Hatherly seven seconds behind the front two and out of the race for gold.
1:25:43 Pidcock overtakes again
As time starts to run out for the British rider, it seems a miracle is needed for him to overtake Koretzky at this late stage. And that is what Pidcock produces.
In the final few hundred metres, the path splits in two, allowing Pidcock down the left side of the track while Koretzky takes the right. Pidcock speeds down the inside and as they met at the point where the paths merged back into one, Pidcock emerged just in front – making contact which slips Koretzky off his pedal.
The Frenchman loses momentum, allowing Pidcock to speed towards the finish line – he leaves his opponent behind with little time left to attempt to catch up with him one final time.
1:26:22 Pidcock crosses the finish line
In the final seconds Pidcock looks over his shoulder one last time, nine seconds in front of Koretzky. The Briton holds his arms above his head as he crosses the finish line – confirming his Olympic title defence. Unsurprisingly, the Yorkshireman’s win did not seem to please the French fans in attendance in Paris, who let out a chorus of boos.
“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.
