Victor Koretzky came very, very close to giving France a pair of Olympic mountain bike gold medals, but after a thrilling battle with Britain’s Tom Pidcock, Koretzky was forced to settle for silver.
After Pidcock recovered from a puncture and lost almost 40 seconds of time to get back in touch with Koretzky, the pair were locked in a thrilling battle over the final lap, with momentum swinging back and forth. As Pidcock was unable to distance himself from Koretzky with a pair of attacks, the Frenchman took the race off with a brutal acceleration.
From there, it seemed like there would be no denying Koretzky a famous gold medal, but, seemingly out of nowhere, the cameras focused on Pidcock again at the front. While it wasn’t initially caught by the TV cameras, fan footage has now revealed exactly what happened to Koretzky, with the Frenchman himself even mentioning the mistake he made in his post-race interview.
“I made a small mistake on the descent. The bike hit the gravel. That mistake cost me the gold,” Koretzky admitted, also referring to Pidcock’s reckless last-gasp attack that nearly caused him to fall and lose his medal. “In the forest, Pidcock touched me and ripped my shoe off. It was hard for me to do anything, but Tom is a great champion.”
See Koretzky’s mistake for yourself in the video below!
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