Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) overcame an early puncture and fought his way back to narrowly win another gold medal in the MTB X-country event. Victor Koretzky (France) led most of the way, but was unable to match Pidcock’s acceleration in a section of double-track and lost the lead position and had to settle for second, nine seconds behind Pidcock. Alan Hatherly (South Africa) put in a great performance and took the bronze.
Pidcock explained how he punctured early and struggled to make up time. “The puncture happened, Bruno wasn’t ready in the pits, but it was a fast change. I knew I had five laps, that’s almost fifty minutes. Anything is possible. I was coming fast back to Victor, but I couldn’t get rid of him.
“I knew how fast he was on the last lap. In the end I just had to go for a gap. Rubbing’s racing, that’s what I’ve always done. The Olympics is no different. I’m sorry for him, the support for him is incredible, but it’s the Olympics, you’ve got to go all in. I know that there are people who see it differently, and it’s a shame that the French booed. It’s a shame for him of course, but it’s the Olympics. They’re so special, you have to give it your all and never give up. That’s what sport is all about.”
Some fans thought Pidcock cut-off Koretzky in the final 400 meters, however, the UCi reviewed the video and found no foul play. “As it happens, the matter was reviewed by the UCI’s sports director, Peter Van den Abeele. He looked at the video a number of times, and he was comfortable that the line was good. [Pidcock and Koretzky] were definitely alongside, if not Tom was slightly ahead when they came together, therefore there was no infringement.”
Koretzky did not hold anyone but himself responsible. “I made a small careless mistake on the descent. My bike hit some gravel, and that mistake cost me the gold medal. In the bit of woods, Pidcock touched me, and with that he untied my shoe. It was difficult to do anything after that, but he is a great champion.”
South African Alan Hatherly gave it his all and was elated to take the bronze. “I gave it everything out there. I could just barely follow all the moves, but I cleared the chaos in the first lap, kept it safe, and I knew that Tom was going to come back, and I was waiting for that moment. It ended up in a battle (of three) for the win in the last lap. I just didn’t have that two or three seconds that I needed for the win, but I’m happy nonetheless. I gave it everything out there, and that’s all that matters.
Hatherly found competing for the podium to be quite tactical. “It’s a different perspective. You’re fighting for the win and it’s quite tactical, slowing down in places that we didn’t slow down in the previous laps, and then it was going faster in strange places, just to put everyone under pressure.”
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