July 29/24 10:26 am - Pidcock Defends XCO Title, Gunnar Holmgren 30th

Posted by Editoress on 07/29/24
 

Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) successfully defended the men's Olympic XCO title on Monday, fighting back from a flat and making a last ditch pass on Victor Koretzky (France) in the final few hundred metres. Alan Hatherly won bronze, the first Olympic mountain bike medal for South Africa, and, indeed, the African continent. Gunnar Holmgren finished 30th after getting caught in traffic at the start.

Pidcock came into the men's race as the favourite, and he seemed to be on track for a dominant performance like Pauline Ferrand Prevot in the women's race a day earlier, attacking hard in the third lap to blow up a large group of 14 riders. Only Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) and Koretzkey could respond, with Flückiger quickly gapped to drop back to a chase duo of Hatherly and Charlie Aldridge (Great Britain).

Into Lap 4, and Pidcock continued to set a punishing pace, dropping Koretzky by a few seconds. However, the British rider suddenly slowed shortly before the pits, with Koretzky pulling away as Pidcock pulled in with a front wheel flat. The mechanics seemed caught by surprise, scrambling to get a wheel, and Pidcock rejoined the race 38 seconds down, just behind the Nino Schurter (Switzerland) group fighting for fifth.

At the front, Koretzky was riding a wave of French support, but Hatherly was holding the gap to less than 15 seconds, with Flückiger, Aldridge and Sam Gaze (New Zealand) at 31 seconds. Pidcock began to move forward on Lap 5, joined by Riley Amos (USA) and Luca Braidot (Italy). By the end of the lap, the trio had caught Flückiger, Aldridge and Gaze, making a group of six chasers, 36 seconds behind Koretzky, with Hatherly 13 seconds back of the leader.

Pidcock attacked early on lap 6, with Gaze and Flückiger joining him before Gaze dropped back. Heading into the penultimate seventh lap, Pidcock had dropped Flückiger and hunted down Hatherly, with the pair only 15 seconds behind Koretzky. Two thirds of the way through the lap, the pair had caught the Frenchman, and Luca Braidot was also closing in, as the leaders backed off the pace.

The final lap quickly came down to two riders - Pidcock and Koretzky - as their constant attacks dropped Hatherly, who was fighting to hold off Braidot for the final podium spot. Pidcock got a small gap but Koretzky fought back, then Koretzky attacked, dropping Pidcock before the Brit also came back.

Going into the final singletrack section, 500 metres from the finish line, Koretzky was in the lead, but Pidcock made a daring pass where the trail split around a tree, gaining half a bike length. Koretzky swerved into Pidcock and over corrected, having to pull his foot out to stay upright, and that was the race. Pidcock rolled into the finish stadium nine seconds in front, with a wave of French boos souring the moment, as the partisan crowd seemed to feel he had caused Koretzky's bobble. However, Pidcock was clearly ahead when the touch happened, and officials correctly did not change the results.

Gunnar Holmgren, racing a day after his sister Isabella in the women's race, also started at the back of the field, and was squeezed out by traffic in the first two corners - a right followed by a left. This put him well back going into the first singletrack. He fought his way up as high as 26th in Lap 2, but slowoly began to lose spots throughout the rest of the race to finish 30th.

"It was racing at a super high level, a hot day and a tricky course," commented Holmgren. "Just a really hard day, but an amazing day."

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