Tom Pidcock took the top step in men’s mountain biking at Tokyo 2020 Olympics winning Great Britain its first-ever gold medal in mountain biking. Pidcock attacked halfway through the race and held a huge gap between him and the rest of the men’s field with Mathias Flueckiger securing silver and David Valero securing bronze.
Mathias Fluckiger (SUI) held closely to Pidcock briefly, but Pidcock, projected by many as a potential winner held his lead for five miles and finished 20 seconds ahead of Fluckiger.
Anton Cooper (NZL), Nino Schurter (SUI), Viktor Koretzky, and David Valero all battled for bronze, but Valero bested the group. Schurter took gold in the 2016 Rio Olympics and silver for the 2012 London Olympics.
Gold medal-hopeful Mathieu van der Poel (NED), who left the Tour de France early after winning a stage to finish his preparation for the Olympics, crashed out early in the race, and eventually pulled out. Van der Poel crashed on one of the courses drops, a series of rocks into a descent, when he ended up too nose heavy in the air.
USA rider Christopher Blevins got hung up in the start, falling to 32nd, but eventually finishing in 14th. That makes Blevins the second highest-placing American in the Olympics. Todd Wells’ 10th place finish in London 2012 leads.
Women’s Olympic mountain biking starts tonight at 12AM MDT/2AM EDT, July 26.
See the men’s Olympic MTB highlights here.
