Phoenix like Tom Pidcock fights back from the brink to secure sensational second Olympic mountain bike gold

In a true race for the ages, Tom Pidcock has taken Olympic gold in the men's mountain bike for the second successive games, denying French hope Victor Koretzky in a thrilling finale.

After a somewhat cagey opening, the first rider to start gapping the rest at the front was in a Great Britain jersey. It wasn't the defending champion Tom Pidcock however, but Charlie Aldridge who led after the first lap although things were still incredibly tight.

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Unlike the women's race on Sunday where Pauline Ferrand-Prevot attacked early and dominated thereafter, the group of main favourites were still all relatively closely packed at the front of the men's fight for gold at the end of lap 2. With Mathias Flückiger on the front, Pidcock was well positioned in 2nd with Nino Schurter not too far behind either. 

On lap 3 though, Pidcock made his big move, with Victor Koretzky the only man able to follow. With the pace unrelenting in the lead duo, the gap soon threatened to reach unassailable margins. Half a lap after attacking already around 12 seconds separated Pidcock and Koretzky to the rest of the race.

With Pidcock suffering a flat front tyre though, the Brit was badly slowed, early on lap 4 and with his team support not ready for him, Koretzky and the rest of the main challengers put considerable time into the reigning gold medallist. As lap 5 began, Pidcock was back up to 8th, 39 seconds down on the leader, with South Africa's Alan Hatherly in 2nd, 12 seconds down on Koretzky.

Whilst first and second were seemingly holding their advantages steady, the fight from behind was being led by the British duo Aldridge and Pidcock, with New Zealand's Samuel Gaze also still in the fight for bronze. On lap 6 though, Pidcock accelerated again, fighting desperately to get back into gold medal contention as Flückiger attempted to follow. 

Whilst Koretzky was still looking strong up ahead, Pidcock was closing the gap. The question was, could he close it quick enough? At the end of lap 6, Pidcock had made contact with Hatherly, but the duo were still 17 seconds off the French lone leader. At the first split of lap 7 though, that gap had been cut to just 5 seconds, with Hatherly clinging to Pidcock's back wheel and reaping the benefits. A few moments later the incredible comeback was complete.

As Pidcock wasted no time hanging around and immediately accelerated again, Hatherly was put into difficulty, but Koretzky wasn't quite done yet. On the early part of the final lap, the was a momentary lull as the trio each were waiting for the next big move to come. Pidcock was the first who made a testing attack but couldn't snap the elastic to Koretzky, although Hatherly again began to struggle to keep contact.

When Koretzky countered however, powered on by the support of the home crowd, the Frenchman powered ahead, gapping Pidcock. The momentum continued to swing though as Pidcock reclaimed the lead on the descent, only for Koretzky to move back in front himself again. Through the woods, Pidcock came up the inside and the duo came into contact, almost bringing both the ground. It was the Brit who came out of the incident the better though sealing the win.

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