Pidcock, who turns 25 on Tuesday (July 30), was leading when he was forced to stop for a wheel change after a puncture on the fourth lap. Competitors whizzed by, but he caught up with them and surged ahead in a bravura display of talent and resolve.
Pidcock prevailed after a thrilling battle with the Frenchman Victory Koretzky.
They went wheel to wheel on the final – and eighth lap – around the 4.4 km circuit.
In a wooded section of the Elencourt Hill course with trees peppering the middle of the track, Pidcock dived down the inside lane and emerged at the next bend half a wheel in front. They came together and made contact. Koretzky’s left foot was briefly dislodged from his pedal, and Pidcock sped away to glory, winning the race with a time of 1:26:22, Koretzky just nine seconds behind him.
Pidcock fell into the arms of his family at the finish line, as some in the French crowd booed him. They were disappointed their compatriot finished second, but as Pidcock said, “I’m sorry for [Koretzky], the support for him was incredible, but it’s the Olympics. You have to go all in.”
Tom Pidcock is the reigning cross-country Olympic mountain bike champion who will be defending his title in Paris. He will also be taking part in the road race.
The 24-year-old Yorkshireman was forced to pull out of the Tour de France a little under two weeks ago after testing positive for Covid, but now he says, “I’m fine.”
Cycling since age three
Raised by parents who were keen cyclists, he started cycling as a three-year-old and soon fell in love with the sport. He first took part in a competition as a seven-year-old.
As his talent blossomed, he coaxed his parents to take him to national-level races.
His breakthrough came at the British National Youth Road Series in Scarborough, where he won and gained recognition as a hill climber.
In 2017, he became the UCI junior world cyclo-cross champion.
Pidcock turned professional at 21. Since then, he has won the cross-country mountain bike titles at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 World Championships. He also won the 2022 Cyclo-cross World Championships and the prestigious spring road classics, Strade Bianche in Italy in 2023, and the 2024 Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands.
He will be defending his mountain bike title on a course in Élancourt Hill, 25 miles west of Paris. At 231 metres, the site is the highest point in the Paris region, and the course consists of manmade gravel switchbacks.
“It’s bland and I think they could have done a better job of making a more mountain bike course,” said Pidcock.
“We love mountain biking for the reasons that drive us to enjoy it for what it is. That’s the courses you get to ride, the places you get to go to. When you just gravel over a nice hillside, it’s not really mountain bike.”
Tom Pidcock will not compete in this year’s cyclo-cross season
Tom Pidcock, a rider for Q36.5 Pro Cycling, announced that he will not compete in this year’s cyclo-cross season as he wishes to “‘settle into a new environment”.
There have been reports that Pidcock disagreed with the British team, so he quit Ineos Grenadiers to join another squad. With this, the 25-year-old athlete has made the decision to take a break in order to get ready for the upcoming season on other surfaces.
Pidcock wrote in a social media post: “On Sunday I watched my first cyclocross of the this season and it reminded me I should probably officially mention that this year, I will not race cyclocross. With a lot of change I want to make sure I have the time to settle into a new environment to get to know my new team and teammates well. But so far my plan will be to return to the field next year ✌️”
Pidcock has three World Cup victories and won the 2022 Cyclo-cross World Championship. In addition to being a skilled road racer, he is a mountain bike Olympian, winning gold in 2021 and 2024, and world champion.
Pidcock’s contract with Ineos was supposed to expire at the end of 2027, but he was cut from the team’s roster for Il Lombardia in October this year. Although he was present at the Ineos November camp in Manchester, he was no longer shown on the team’s social media accounts.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won the men’s senior title with ease for the third time in four years at the European Cross Country Championships in Turkey.
Despite not competing in the event last year, the 24-year-old Olympic 5,000-meter champion reclaimed his title with a strong performance at the Dokuma Park, Antalya.
With a performance record of 22 minutes and 16 seconds, he won eight seconds ahead of Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy, who placed second, and Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain, who ranked third.
The athlete shared with European Athletics: “Cross country is something that I really enjoy… It’s very different from my other competitions, there’s something special and exciting about around 100 people being at the starting line, going for the first turn…”
He added: “There’s a lot of fighting and pushing and shoving, there’s a lot of things that could happen. The course was so challenging and tactical, as well as technical…. It’s all about using the energy wisely and trying to manoeuvre.”
In a social media post, he stated: “Last year, at this specific time, I spent the weekend running in a swimming pool full of pensioners. I like this better. Proud to represent Team Norway 🇳🇴 in the European Cross Country Championship in Antalya. 🇹🇷 And congrats to the Norwegian U20 team for bringing home the team gold medal! 🏆🔥”
In ninth place, Rory Leonard was the first Briton to cross the finish line, helping the men’s team win bronze.
Moreover, in the women’s senior event, which was won by Nadia Battocletti of Italy, Kate Axford finished in 10th place and helped the British team win silver. In the first-ever mixed relay, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team took home bronze.
Katie Archibald missed the Olympics due to injury, but now she is back and will be able to compete again in the Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark this month.
Last June, the athlete tripped over a step in her garden and broke two bones in her leg and tore ligaments.
With the upcoming competition, she is part of a 23-strong team which includes 11 medallists from the Paris Olympics. Joining her are athletes Sophie Capewell, Katy Marchant, and reigning sprint world champion Emma Finucane. These athletes teamed up to win Great Britain’s historic first-ever Olympic women’s team sprint gold medal. Other athletes include Neah Evans, Josie Knight, and Jess Roberts.
Also competing are men’s team pursuit silver medallists Dan Bigham, Ethan Hayter, Charlie Tanfield and Ollie Wood.
The World Championships will run from October 16 to 20, 2024.
List of the full Great Britain line-up:
Women’s endurance – Katie Archibald, Meg Barker, Neah Evans, Josie Knight, Sophie Lewis, Anna Morris, Jess Roberts
Men’s endurance – Dan Bigham, Rhys Britton, Josh Charlton, Ethan Hayter, Noah Hobbs, Mark Stewart, Charlie Tanfield, Josh Tarling, Ollie Wood
Women’s sprint – Sophie Capewell, Emma Finucane, Katy Marchant, Lowri Thomas
Men’s sprint – Harry Ledingham-Horn, Hayden Norris, Joe Truman
Three-time Olympic gold medallist Adam Peaty failed to retain his 100 metres breaststroke title in Paris. He won silver, not gold, but still, it was a remarkable achievement. He was unwell and, after the event, was diagnosed with Covid.
The 29-year-old Englishman lost by only 0.02 seconds to the Italian Nicolo Martinenghi, tying with the American Nic Fink in second place. They both completed the 100 metres in 59.05 and went on to share the podium step together.
Before feeling unwell, Peaty had swum faster in the semi-finals, where he clocked 58.86, a time that would have won gold in the finals, where Martinenghi won the race in 59.03.
Peaty, who won the 100 metres breastroke in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo three years ago, had been aiming to match the American Michael Phelps’ record of winning the same swim race at three straight Olympics, but he woke up on Sunday (July 28) morning with a sore throat. (Phelps won the 100 metres butterfly as well as the 200 metres medley in Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008; and London, 2012).
World record holder
Peaty is the world record holder in the men’s 100 metres breaststroke with a time of 56.88 recorded in 2019.
Team Great Britain said in a statement: “Adam Peaty began feeling unwell on Sunday, ahead of his men’s 100 breaststroke final. In the hours after the final, his symptoms became worse and he was tested for COVID early on Monday morning. He tested positive at that point.”
“The situation is being managed appropriately,” the British team statement said, “with all usual precautions being taken to keep the wider (British) delegation healthy.”
The Paris Olympics do not have COVID-specific health rules, a departure from the Tokyo Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Peaty is not the first athlete to come down with Covid in Paris. Five Australian women water polo players tested positive even before the Games began.
Peaty hugged Martinenghi and Fink on the medal podium and said he was delighted for Martinenghi.
Later, he wrote on Instagram that he had a tough time before the Olympics and added that the silver medal was a “blessing”.
“A night full of raw emotion and sport in its true form,” he wrote. “These last 14 months have been incredibly testing and I do not regret one training session or decision I made.
“I’ve continued to fight and find new ways to enjoy something that has broken me to the core and to end up with an Olympic silver through all of that is an absolute blessing. I’m more proud of the man and athlete I am from last night than I have been across my entire career.”
He now has six Olympic medals, including three gold medals (for 100 metres breaststroke in Rio and Tokyo and 4×100 metres mixed medley in Tokyo) and three silvers (for 4×100 metres medley in Rio and Tokyo and 100 metres breaststroke in Paris).
Peaty, who returned to racing in February after mental health struggles, described his silver medal as a personal victory.
“In my heart I’ve won and these are happy tears because I said to myself that I would give my absolute best every single day and I have. You can’t be upset about that,” he said.
