Cross-Country, Men

As both the defending Olympic and World champion, Tom Pidcock was the firm favorite going into the race. He faced stiff competition from other riders, with the field also including Mathias Flückiger (SUI) and David Valero (ESP), who had each won medals in Tokyo, along with Nino Schurter (SUI), who won gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and was a 10-time World Champion. Other strong contenders were Sam Gaze (NZL), who had finished second to Pidcock at the World Championships in Scotland the previous year, and home favourite Victor Koretzky (FRA).

The race got underway, with the traditional mass-start with all the riders safely navigating the first lap. The trio of Alan Hatherly (RSA), Flückiger, and Charlie Aldridge (GBR) led the pack at the end of the first lap, but only by a margin of one second. By the end of lap three, all the main favorites were well in contention, having avoided any early issues.

On the fourth lap, Tom Pidcock was leading the race before suffering a puncture just before the pit area. Despite his team not being ready for him, he got a quick wheel change, rejoining the race in ninth, 36 seconds behind the leader Victor Koretzky. Pidcock clawed his way back through the field, with him sitting in third place by the end of lap five. Two laps later, he was just a few seconds behind Koretzky, before Pidcock briefly took the race lead. The Frenchman then regained the lead just before the final descent. In a wooded section of the course, the pair took slightly different paths through the obstacles, resulting in a brief coming together with Pidcock once again regaining the lead. Despite boos from the home crowd, Pidcock powered on to win the race, beating Koretzky by just 0:09 seconds. Alan Hatherly was a further 10 seconds back to win bronze.