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I think MVDP might have crashed shortly after attacking Pidcock which might have unsettled him for the drop. Tom was lucky he never got wiped out by MVDP's fall.
Commentary “we are 15 minutes from a historic mountain bike Gold for UK, let’s switch to canoe” shows how little respect mountain biking gets, can you imagine them cutting off Peaty to Sweden vs New Zealand table tennis?
To be fair, they switched the MTB to the main coverage on proper BBC1 right after Tom Daley was done. I appreciated watching the last bit in HD!
If you watch the crash, it looks like he rolled off a bit slower than normal.
There has been a wooden ladder under the drop (to roll it) during practice, but removed for the racing. Wonder if he rolled upto the drop a bit slow and expected to hit the wooden ladder which wasn't there...?
Aaaarggghhhh. Put it on pause to sort the kids out, come back to them having changed channel. BBC you absolute tossers.
🙂 Super duper 🙂
Commentary “we are 15 minutes from a historic mountain bike Gold for UK, let’s switch to canoe” shows how little respect mountain biking gets, can you imagine them cutting off Peaty to Sweden vs New Zealand table tennis?
Oh get over yourselves. They took it off the red button and put it on BBC1 so the mainstream viewers could see it. If they'd left it on the red button as well then all the fans of table tennis or whatever would miss out on their chance for some coverage.
Mega! I have to admit I didn't think Tom would be able to pull it off at the start but I've never been happier to be wrong. I just hope he sticks with mountain biking for a bit after this.
I'm pleased that I can now wheel out my two Tom related anecdotes - shutting the door on him in the national champs and being ranked above him all this year (with screenshot!) - to unsuspecting members of the general public as well as cyclists. It's going to be a good year.
Commentary “we are 15 minutes from a historic mountain bike Gold for UK, let’s switch to canoe” shows how little respect mountain biking gets, can you imagine them cutting off Peaty to Sweden vs New Zealand table tennis?
??? They switched it to the main channel. Available on every platform including streaming. If they'd just left it on iplayer that would be far worse, and showing the same thing on both channels would be silly. How is that not showing respect?
Anyway, well done Tom.
an absolute masterclass from someone so young !!! power, technique, pacing and tactics ****ing brilliant!
Awesome!
What Kline said.
Well done Tom, that was amazing!!
He didn't look phased at all, did he?? Fantastic win for the lad!
There will be a rush on XC bikes now!
Great ride. I missed the start. Be interested in seeing him blast through the field from the off
Sure, the race was great and all but the best bit was definitely when the commentator called him Tim Podcock.
Absolutely fantastic.
The course looked cruelly gnarly.
Spanish commentators are very happy with that bronze, too.
Valero looked absolutely chuffed when he crossed the line for Bronze which was lovely to see.
Pidcock's ride was a masterclass of pacing and technical skills. Here's hoping for similar success in the Women's race tomorrow!
The idiot on BBC breakfast, after spending 10 mins talking about Peaty and Daley just said GB also won a medal in the ‘mountain climbing’ 😀
Well chuffed for Tom and hopefully a massive shot in the arm for XC MTB-ing
The boy did great!! Well done Tom, you’ve made me proud!
@padkins
I’ve never been happier to be wrong. I just hope he sticks with mountain biking for a bit after this
Well chuffed for Tom and hopefully a massive shot in the arm for XC MTB-ing
I think he's been quite vocal/visible on this - obviously picked/spotted at a young age, I wont say 'co-erced' but I presume has been pressure to follow the road and CX route. This, I hope, is a big up-yours to British cycling ref the support of MTB.
I really hope Pidcock sticks with it, he says himself he was born to do it. Hopefully a big MTB team/brand will pick him up and pay him enough to make him stick around and do full seasons off-road.
So, give me the TLDR on Tom. I've only picked up his name recently. Is/was he a cycloscross rider before MTB?
Hopefully a big MTB team/brand will pick him up
You think any MTB focused teams are going to compete with the million quid pay-packet available to him from Ineos on the road? He'll stick to road for obvious reasons. Best we can hope for is that he rides offroad as much as possible while he develops enough road experience to ride the grand tours and classics.
as much as possible while he develops enough road experience to ride the grand tours
he's already on the roster for the Vuelta.
Is/was he a cycloscross rider before MTB?
Was pretty dominant in age group racing, and for the last couple of years he's been moving towards the sharp end of the International CX circuit, where there's a real lot of hot talent right now - MvdP and WvA to name a couple. Of course the CX circuit and the Road circuilt are complementary so you can do both and so he's been picked up by a samll road team on the way and then Ineos, where there are indications he could be a contender in future years.
MTB I think is his favourite discipline but there's no money in it in comparison and the season overlaps with road.
Great achievement by Tom.
The sad part of this is we know that financially mountain biking can’t compete with Road. If he was a domestique he would probably still be able to race all disciplines, as he moves to a team leader position and a GC contender then I’d imagine the freedom will be curtailed.
Oh, and he wins age group TT'ing as well. And fancies a go at WC DH. And could probably be decent in BMX, and track, and even bloody unicyle gymnastics, he's so ridiculously talented.
He could be a future TDF winner and I hope he sticks with the road for a few more years
If any good can come from this, it would be a UK MTB XCO World Cup; as he's from Yorkshire, then a return to Dalby? Or Wales, or even Malvern, which produces lots of MTB-ers...including current CX/XCO/Enduro riders Evie & Hattie.
Raising the finance is the issue.....
w00dster
Full MemberGreat achievement by Tom.
The sad part of this is we know that financially mountain biking can’t compete with Road. If he was a domestique he would probably still be able to race all disciplines, as he moves to a team leader position and a GC contender then I’d imagine the freedom will be curtailed.
Other way round I would say. If you're "just" a domestique then you're not going to be able to negotiate your contracts in the same way as if you're a big name. e.g. look at MVdP mixing things up. Currently Pidcock is looking more like a Classics rider than GC contender, so hopefully he can keep a similar deal. Looking forward to Quickstep snapping him up 😉
Currently Pidcock is looking more like a Classics rider than GC contender,
at 21 I think time will tell, received wisdom (knocked somewhat by riders like Pogacar) is that stamina really comes later on in the twenties and there may be time for Pidcock to evolve into a stage racer.
That's why i said currently. Hell, he could decide to start smashing the gym and be the next Cav instead 😉
He has been vocal about loving mtb. I really hope that this will make a few more grass-roots level cyclists think that giving xc racing ago sounds fun, similar to the road boom previously. Hopefully the Uk news covers this well.
A good interview with him from earlier this year:
https://lifeinthepeloton.com/2021/04/14/tom-pidcock-looking-back-looking-ahead/
He seems pretty keen on keeping things varied
This is a great way to start the morning. Repeat tomorrow for the ladies race, of which I think the field is much more open than the mens. Exciting times!
I'm agreeing with you. As I said if he turns his hand to artistic bike gymnastics he could probably do that too!
Tom did so well in the spring classics. He's amazing on a cross bike, now the Olympic champion in xc mtbiking and also wants to ride downhill, he's a machine.
It was a joy watching his bike handling skills in the Olympic mtbike race.
It'll be interesting how it goes for him in La Vuelta. Will he be able to win a stage? Exciting times for Tom.
apart from some of those climbs, that course looked fun. would have been interesting in the wet...
Is there anywhere I can watch it this afternoon? Can't find it on iPlayer.
What a result.
Tom seems pretty handy on a DH bike and riding trails in his off time so loadsa talent. Ultimately he'll probably do what pays. Although I'm sure if he had the success of Nino he'd be fine.
The sad part of this is we know that financially mountain biking can’t compete with Road. If he was a domestique he would probably still be able to race all disciplines, as he moves to a team leader position and a GC contender then I’d imagine the freedom will be curtailed.
Ineos hired his MTB coach so they're not looking to restrict TP to road. I'd imagine that for the first couple of years at least, he's got a fairly open ended contract that allows him freedom to do the MTB and CX.
And to be fair, it's not unique. MvdP, WvA - lots of riders now are becoming much more all-rounders. Even on the road - a few years ago roadies were climbers or sprinters or GC contenders. Now the lines are becoming much more blurred, riders are far better all-round and there are plenty who can mix it up now. XC requires all the fitness of a roadie plus all the handling skills of CX, it's not that big a leap to be good at them all given enough support and time to train.
According to Google, Nino has a net worth of $5mill. I think Tom would be ok with that and some XC titles. But realistically he's going to be part of the ineos future on the roads rather than full time XC.
It was a joy watching his bike handling skills in the Olympic mtbike race.
To be fair most if not all of the field had skills way above anyone on here, add in breathing out of your arse then it becomes even more impressive
Not sure why everyone wants Tom to drop road, it clearly isn't doing him any harm and he's capable of complex season scheduling to cover most disciplines, if he can win at everything why drop road?
Van Der Poel Crash from another angle - apparently reported that he did, as I suspect, think that the wooden ramp was still there!
Video here:
https://twitter.com/BasTietema/status/1419590795049451523
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/mathieu-van-der-poel-crash-cycling-tokyo-b1890370.html
Did he think he was in the lead racing for Gold too....!?
mjsmke
Is there anywhere I can watch it this afternoon? Can’t find it on iPlayer.
@mjsmke - if you go to the iplayer, choose the red button feed & scroll it back to 7am (the timestamp is on the pink bar) it should work - it did for me earlier. I am not sure how far back you can go though, so if watching this afternoon it might not be possible?
They switch away to the main channel about 15mins before the end, so you then need to switch to the main feed on the iplayer & do the same thing - jump the program to the point when they skipped onto that main feed - so before you switch, check what time it is, so you can match it.
It's a bit of a pain, but worked OK for me.
It did look like he wasnt expecting that drop in the live coverage for sure, I believe him.
Hope the organisers did advertise it wouldn't be there clearly and it was jsut an oversight from MVDP. If they didnt make it obvious it would be removed, its a massive error on their side.
if it wasn't known then everyone else seemed to jump it purely for shits and giggles anyway then. If they all thought a ladder was there then I'd have thought there would have been way more crashes
Weird how every other rider in the race knew the ramp wasn't there. Along with the chaos in the women's road race you have to question what's going on in the dutch camp. You'd think one of the coaches would have told MVDP that the ramp wasn't going to be there.
@theotherjonv - that was my thought too, MVDP did arrive late in Japan apparently so maybe not quite as well prepped as the others.
Dutch coach is claiming to have told VDP multiple times already this week that the ladder would e gone. Or 'covering his arse' one might assume. Covered themselves in Glory the Dutch team this week!
Anyway....
Evie doesnt care whether its there or not!
Who's gonna be up again tomorrow?
Coverage is now up on the BBC Iplayer coverage Day 3 Red Button from about 3hrs in :
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000ybv2/olympics-day-3-red-button-04000800
MvdP thought the ramp would remain. Vadar knew it would go and told MvdP but it seems that wasn't believed. The coaches need to get a grip of this sort of stuff. Same for the womens road race as other riders knew how many were up the road but the Dutch didn't.
Except for Vos, who says she did. Does all seem a bit odd. MvdP's instagram account has some stills from a different angle. He's gonna be feeling that one for a while.
I was sympathetic but complaining that he didn't know the ladder was taken out I've lost it.
Whoever's mistake it was - coaches for not making sure it was known or MvdP for not listening, that's a really poor error and it was just lucky that their incompetence didn't ruin someone else's years of preparation. If Pidcock had been a bit closer he'd have been taken out and then you could have had a massive pile up given it was first lap and the field were nose to tail.
I know a crash can happen and that's part of racing, but this seems avoidable, just poor organisation, and irrespective of the lack of outcome to anyone else I'd still be livid and making that point.
Pretty disgraceful in my book.
In more Olympic tittle-tattle, I note that Nino Schurter (4th) congratulated Fluckinger (2nd) and Pidcock on social media but not Valero (3rd). Oversight or a bit of an issue between those two? I had to go as soon as pidcock crossed the line so didn't see them come in.
Thanks, I'll have a look.
At least if Pidcock goes to road he'll have the skill set to deal with drain covers.
Amazing win Gold at a first attempt just wow, made such a tough race looks so easy.
Paris-Roubaix scheduled for October 3rd. That would be a hell of a double.
Just picking up an earlier comment "the field in the women's is more open than the men's" - have you watched ANY women's XC racing this year? One person has lead from the front nearly all the way in every WC race. You are about as knowledgeable as the aussie bint and south african chump on commentary this morning, sir... if you have any spare time tomorrow morning grab that microphone...
Although I won't knock the coverage entirely, that was a great course and superb camera coverage.
Lecomte has been head and shoulders above the rest but this Tokyo track looks to have less big climbs than the tracks where she has dominated. She has struggled* on the short track courses with less up. Lots of short punchy climbs which might suit some of the others more. I don't think it will be a repeat of previous world cup rounds. I'm looking forward to it.
* Relative to her absolute domination in the main races anyway!
After a somewhat disappointing TdF it's been a pretty good Olympics for Inneos Grenadiers!
Pidcock is a hell of a rider. Watching him going down the Poggio in Milan-San Remo and first around the Olympic XC course was quite a comparison!
At least if Pidcock goes to road he’ll have the skill set to deal with drain covers.
A couple of years ago i was driving one of the Commissaire cars in a UK National road race (forget which one exactly, I've done loads).
TP was in the break with about 4 or 5 other guys, we were in the car behind. There was a long descent with a small humpback bridge at the bottom (only a shallow hump) and then into a left hand bend and up a short kicker of a climb. It had been raining, bit of gravel washed down onto the road and the surface was still damp. Everyone else in the break was on the brakes, TP just went straight down the middle, got a little bit of air over the bridge and slid it neatly into the climb. He was half way up the kicker before the others were even over the bridge. No wasted energy, used his momentum and then got a nice little micro rest on the final bit of the climb while he waited for his breakaway companions to close the gap. It was so smooth, so controlled, he was just head and shoulders above the others technically.
Not that they were "bad" - it wasn't like some Sportive, these were pro riders but he was just much much better! Genuinely impressive to watch.
I think the whole VdP thing is a setup to sell more downcountry bikes. 120mm forks, dropper post and a 65deg head angle and he'd be top of the podium 😉
At least if Pidcock goes to road he’ll have the skill set to deal with drain covers.
IF he goes to road?
Watching the replay now. Watching MVdP go over that drop knowing he doesn't have a dropper makes me wince every time.
Agree the commentary is ill-informed. Very clear from the replay of the crash what the problem was but both commentators just waffled.
OTOH the lady commentator noted how Nino was farting in an effort to keep up, which certainly painted a vivid picture.
Will VdP make it onto Friday Fails?
What did Tom have under his saddle? Was it a camera or a spare tube?
Great racing, the fitness of those guys to gun it for 90 mins baffles me! Big features for an XC course too, Chuffed for Pidcock.
Those bikes on those tyres for those track features and conditions?
Madness!
MvdP thought the ramp would remain. Vadar knew it would go and told MvdP
Not strictly true Vader told him it was removed for the test event.
“Mathieu said: ‘Gosh everyone jumps there.’ I asked: ‘Won't you, then?’ He said, ‘No, I'll roll off that plank,’ Then I said that they had removed that board at the test event in 2019 for the competition.”
In more Olympic tittle-tattle, I note that Nino Schurter (4th) congratulated Fluckinger (2nd) and Pidcock on social media but not Valero (3rd). Oversight or a bit of an issue between those two? I had to go as soon as pidcock crossed the line so didn’t see them come in.
One option - he congratulated the winner, and his friend and fellow countryman. To tack on ‘oh and also Valero for bronze’ might seem a bit naff.
Other option - there was a pack of them vying for third behind the obvious top 2.
Valero, schurter, Cooper and cink I think.
Did something happen in that group we didn’t see?
What a plank.
There's a weird subtext to the whole MvdP plank thing, do you think the Dutch MTB team slightly resented having this mega-star waltz in just for the Olympics when maybe the rest of the team had spent more time working together? Was surprised that the team was so quick to 'blame' him for his crash.
I dont know how the national team set up works.
Assume the athletes bring their own mechanics, possibly a physio or other staff that they normally work with.
And a national team manager who apart form the olympics and world champs doesnt have a hands on managing role?
Perhaps Vader and Terpstra (+ another woman?) spend more time with their friends and/or regular pro teammates and didn't have a lot to do with VDP, especially with him turning up late.