Leeds cyclist Tom Pidcock wins men’s mountain bike gold at Paris Olympics

The 24-year-old came back from a puncture to overtake France’s Victor Kortzky at the last minute

Cyclist Tom Pidcock – who is from Leeds – won Team GB’s second gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

In a dramatic mountain-bike race, the 24-year-old came back from a puncture to overtake Frenchman Victor Koretzky at the last minute.

Pidcock – who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago – managed to close a gap of 40 seconds before overtaking Koretzky.

Pidcock was booed by the home crowd at Elancourt Hill, who had been ecstatic when Koretzky had attacked on the final climb of the race – the kind of territory where Pidcock would be expected to make a move – to take the lead late on.

But their hearts were to be broken after Pidcock got his nose in front of Koretzky as the track narrowed in front of a tree, the decisive moment in a tense race.

After a relatively poor start, Pidcock moved to the front on the third lap and then took control, only for things to unravel with a front wheel.

Pidcock was lucky that it happened close to the pits, but his team was not ready for him and it was a slow change, dropping Pidcock to ninth, the gap to the front widening sharply.

He came back to catch Koretzky with two laps to go, but the effort told as he couldn’t shake the Frenchman until the last.

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