Britain's Tom Pidcock overcame a major obstacle and defended his men's mountain bike title at the Paris Olympics in a thrilling battle.
According to the MTI report, after the women's race on Sunday – where Blanca Vas finished 10th – on Monday, the men battled for the five-ring medals on the 4.35-kilometre gravel course on the Elancourt Hill, which includes a short, steep climb. Slippery sections and jumps. A day earlier, world champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot triumphed with the support of a home crowd, the men's field included current World Cup gold medalist and five-ring champion Pidcock, and the Rio champion who made her first World Cup start at the Olympic distance. 38-year-old Swiss Nino Schurter.
A field of 36 people competed in the eight-lap distance, in sunny and dry weather, like the previous day, and the race was colored by falls and technical errors, for example, the rear wheel of Karolyi Edi Molnar of Sepsiszentgyörgy, in Romanian colours, being broken.
For a long time there was a large, cohesive group at the front, which broke up as Pidcock, who was recovering from a poor start, started on the third lap. The defending champion broke away from his rivals led by Viktor Koretsky, driven by the home crowd, but due to the first hole, he was half a minute behind, and thus the Frenchman was alone in front. Then Pidcock began the great catch-up, as one after another he overtook those who overtook him due to a technical error, and two rounds before the end, only Koretsky was ahead of him, and then he overtook the leading Frenchman with the South African Alain. Hatherley on his wheel.
Pidcock tried to break away several times, and Koretsky also started once, and the Briton had the last word as a result of a risky overtake in a wooded area: the two drivers almost collided after avoiding a wooded area from both sides, speeding and Pidcock defended his title accompanied by boos from the French crowd. Koretsky won silver for France and Hatherley became the first non-European athlete to medal in men's mountain bike.
Mountain bike for men
1. Thomas Pidcock (Great Britain) 1:26:22
2. Victor Koretsky (France), 9 seconds behind
3. Alan Hatherley (South Africa) 11 seconds h.
