The wheel of fortune turns full cycle for Pidcock...
TOM BACK FROM HORROR INJURY TO STRIKE GOLD
YOUNG, gifted and fearless – what an unbeatable combination.
On a magic Monday for Team GB, Tom Pidcock burst from the shadows as British cycling’s best-kept secret.
Pidcock announced himself by storming to Olympic mountain bike gold in Izu and gasped: “I’m happy this s*** is only every four years because it’s f***ing stressful.”
Forgive young Pidders his potty-mouthed moment. To handle a bike over dirt track, woodland, boulders, bridges – every type of surface except flat – without a false move for 85 minutes was an immense feat of concentration and skill. He was relentless, breathless, fearless. Pausing only to collect a Union flag from a spectator 100 yards from the line, Pidcock – who only turns 22 on Friday – went straight to his coach Kurt Bogaerts, the mentor who steered him to glory just seven weeks after a training crash in Andorra.
Pidcock’s Olympic dream looked to be in ruins when he was hit by a car which broke his collarbone in five places.
“Kurt has spent so much time with me since my crash, planning every single day to optimise the limited time we had to prepare for this race,” he said.
“This is as much down
to
It’s unbelievable. I know my mum and girlfriend are crying at home
him as to my hard work. It all looks pretty nice now, but there were so many days of suffering and hard work to get here.”
If Pidcock’s rivals want to know how a relative mountain bike novice cooked up an Olympic triumph in steamy Japan, his secret was the torture chamber in his spare room at home in Leeds.
He set up a ‘hot box’ – pumping hot air into a tent containing a static bike – and it drank up so much fuel it kept tripping the electric meter.
But Pidcock’s DIY sauna worked a treat. He romped home 20 seconds clear of Switzerland’s world No.1 Mathias Fluckiger.
Mountain bike racing may look exciting on TV, but it is dangerous. Just ask pre-race favourite Mathieu van der Poel, who was forced to retire hurt after five of the seven laps following a spectacular early crash.
Van der Poel had prepared by wearing the leader’s Yellow Jersey in the first week of the Tour de France, but that could not save him from an unhappy landing when a ramp that was part of the course on practice runs was removed on race day.
Pidcock, a junior and under-23 world champion in cyclocross, could hardly believe his luck.
“It was only late last year that I first raced at a [mountain bike] World Cup, so this hasn’t been a dream for long,” he said.
“I can’t imagine how it would feel to build up for four years to this event – one year was enough!
“But it’s nothing like any other race. The Olympics just transcends any sport.
“You compete and represent your country and everyone in your country is behind you. It’s just national pride and it’s unbelievable.
“I know my mum and girlfriend are crying at home. It’s sad that they can’t be here but I’ll see them when I get back.”
Road cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, who had the foresight to snap up Pidcock last year, plan to include him in their squad at La Vuelta in Spain next month.
He’s so talented, he could probably win it on a Raleigh Chopper.