Paris 2024 Olympics - Mountain Bike - Men's Cross-country Victory Ceremony - Elancourt Hill, Elancourt, France - July 29, 2024. Thomas Pidcock of Britain receives his gold medal on the podium. REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw
ELANCOURT (Reuters) - Tom Pidcock made no apology for spoiling another French party at the Olympic mountain bike course after shattering the hopes of Victor Koretzky to retain his title on Monday.
Pidcock, who turns 25 on Tuesday, found himself 40 seconds behind Koretzky after a front-wheel puncture on the fourth of eight laps of the 4.4km Elancourt Hill.
He battled back to set up a last-lap shootout with Koretzky on the snaking gravel circuit through the trees and boulders, only for the Frenchman to surge ahead once more and look poised to emulate Sunday's women's winner Pauline Ferrand-Prevot.
Pidcock then pulled off an audacious move that almost saw Koretzky crash and he was booed by the partisan crowd as he crossed the line nine seconds ahead of the French hero. He was booed again during the medal ceremony.
The incident was reviewed by organisers who saw no wrongdoing and Koretzky did not have many complaints.
"I knew how fast he was on the last lap. In the end I just had to go for a gap," Pidcock, who rides on the road for Ineos Grenadiers and had to abandon the Tour de France this month after testing positive for a COVID, said.
"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 did nothing wrong.
"The French crowds are incredible. Obviously, they're very patriotic for the French. Not so much for me."
Koretzky said a mistake after pulling clear on the last lap had cost him gold, while also offering his view on Pidcock's race winning move on the final descent.
"He overtook me in the forest, he touched my shoe, and then I unclipped," he said. "But it's part of the race."
Pidcock is regarded as a generational talent who can ride all disciplines. He won the mountain bike Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, won the iconic Alpe d'Huez stage on the Tour de France in 2022 and the Strade Bianche classic in 2023.
He will also ride the road race at the Paris Olympics.
"My back hurts now, I was suffering," he said. "It was definitely not the most enjoyable. It was difficult to enjoy it because I was fighting back. I just didn't want to give up.
"He left the door open, we were racing for a gold medal. And I wanted to win just as much as he did."
Once recovered from Monday's enormous effort, Pidcock will turn his attention to Saturday's men's road race.
"There's no pressure for me in the road race. I said all along that (mountain bike) was my priority. But of course I owe it to my teammates to turn up in good condition."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
