British all-rounder Thomas Pidcock staged an epic comeback to take the gold medal Monday in the men’s Cross Country event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The INEOS Grenadiers rider, who had a mechanical mishap on the third lap, made a spectacular comeback to beat France’s Victor Koretzky and South Africa’s Alan Hatherly, who completed the final podium with the silver and bronze medals.
Pidcock, who withdrew from the Tour de France after testing positive for Covid-19, has combined road cycling with MTB this season, with a strong performance in the latter. He has four UCI race victories, three of them in the World Cup.
The great favorite for the victory, who in the third lap of the Élancourt circuit (4.3 kilometers), to which the riders made a total of 8 laps, suffered a puncture that set him back more than 40 seconds, but incredibly recovered and revalidated the gold obtained in Tokyo.
In this race, 36 participants took the start and the best among the three South Americans in competition was the Chilean Martín Vidaurre, who was classified in 11th place, while the Colombian Diego Arias was 31st.
Olympic Games XCO (París 2024)
Ranking General
| 1 | Tom Pidcock | Gran Bretaña | 1:26:22 |
| 2 | Victor Koretzky | Francia | 0:09 |
| 3 | Alan Hatherly | Sudáfrica | 0:11 |
| 4 | Luca Braidot | Italia | 0:34 |
| 5 | Mathias Flueckiger | Suiza | 1:20 |
| 6 | Samuel Gaze | Nueva Zelanda | 1:48 |
| 7 | Riley Amos | Estados Unidos | 1:53 |
| 8 | Charlie Aldridge | Gran Bretaña | 2:10 |
| 9 | Nino Schurter | Suiza | 2:22 |
| 10 | David Valero Serrano | España | 2:27 |
| 11 | Martín Vidaurre | Chile | 2:35 |
| 31 | Diego Arias | Colombia | 8:51 |