Probably the biggest the difference for Pidcock between the mountain bike and the road race, is the the change in expectation. Whilst the
INEOS Grenadiers man was a heavy favourites to defend his mountain bike gold, the Brit is just one of a number of superstars competing in the road race, going up against the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Mads Pedersen, Biniam Girmay and more. Nevertheless, Park remains confident that Pidcock will be right in the mix for what would be a third Olympic gold of his career.
“I think winning will give him a huge amount of confidence for the road race,” Parks says, noting the boost not only for Pidcock himself but also for teammates
Fred Wright,
Stephen Williams and
Joshua Tarling. “There's no doubt that we need to ride well as a team, and everyone else will be motivated. Tom’s got the legs, and he's up for the race, so they'll be keen to ride for him. So it should be a fantastic race.”
As for the chances of another gold? “It's possible,” Parks said. “But I think if there was one event in cycling, I wouldn't put a wager on it’s the road race. Because it’s such a tough race. It's normally a war of attrition and if the entire peloton rides against you, then it's incredibly difficult to win. But it is possible. We'll just have to see how it plays out, but we'll definitely be in the running.”