Olympic mountain bike

LIVE: Foidl in mountain bike cross-country action

Maximilian Foidl on the back wheel of favorite Tom Pidcock.

(Bild: AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Maximilian Foidl fell short of his own expectations in the Olympic mountain bike cross-country. The Tyrolean wanted to significantly improve on his 17th place in the Tokyo Olympics. In the end, the 28-year-old had to pull out early and finished in 22nd place, with victory going to Britain's Tom Pidcock. The favorite prevailed shortly before the end with a controversial move against the Frenchman Victor Koretzky. After grazing the local hero during his final attack, he was met with boos and whistles. 

After 35.2 km, Pidcock crossed the finish line nine seconds ahead of Koretzky, with the French fans booing the world champion. The 24-year-old, who only occasionally rides off-road as a road pro and, like women's Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, is part of the Ineos team, triumphed after recently recovering from a coronavirus infection. The South African Alan Hatherly (+11 sec.) took bronze, Foidl was 5:04 minutes behind.

Here are the results:

Pidcock had to have his front tire changed in the two-man leading group in the early stages of the race and lost half a minute as a result. After a chase to catch up on the demanding course on the man-made Colline d'Élancourt, which is the highest point in the Paris region at 231 meters above sea level, Pidcock entered the eighth and final lap together with Koretzky and Hatherly. On this lap, Pidcock attacked and made slight contact with Koretzky.

Meanwhile, Foidl, who had an egg with him as a lucky charm in reference to the movie "Cool Runnings", as he did in Tokyo, got off to a good start. From 24th position in the 36-strong field, the Tyrolean worked his way up to 13th place. At the end of the second lap, however, the 28-year-old missed the connection to the 13-strong leading group and fell well short of the top ten result he was aiming for.