Tom Pidcock was optimistic for COVID-19 for six days after he left the Tour de France earlier than stage 14 however the Briton believes he has recovered in time to focus on a second consecutive gold medal within the mountain bike occasion in Paris on Monday.
Pidcock will experience the mountain bike occasion in Elancourt to the southwest of Paris on Monday, July 29 after which lead Nice Britain’s males’s squad within the Olympic Video games street race on Saturday, August 3. The ladies’s mountain bike occasion is on Sunday, July 28.
“I am tremendous,” Pidcock mentioned succinctly of his restoration from COVID-19, as he spoke from the Staff GB lodge on the outskirts of Paris on Friday morning.
“The plan was at all times to complete the Tour, getting sick was not a part of that plan, and we’ve got to adapt to that.
“I am in place. I am pleased with the place I’m. I’ve recovered properly. And, yeah, I feel I will be fairly content material with how my restoration went.”
Pidcock and different riders did a remaining recon experience of the Elancourt Hill circuit on Wednesday. Rain has since soaked the course however is not going to change the racing, nor the opinion of Pidock and different athletes who took half in a check occasion final autumn.
The twisting circuit up and down Elancourt Hill is essentially a man-made gravel observe with added rocks and different technical options. Pidock doesn’t prefer it however will nonetheless race for gold.
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“It isn’t the most effective course on this planet but it surely’s the identical for everybody,” he mentioned. “It is bland and I feel they might have accomplished a greater job of creating a extra mountain bike course.
“I really like mountain biking for the explanations that drive us to get pleasure from it. That is the programs you get to experience, the locations you get to go to. Once you simply gravel over a pleasant hillside, it is not likely mountain biking.”
The street race can have a unique dynamic
The 24-year-old Yorkshireman gained gold within the mountain bike in Tokyo and has continued to efficiently mix the self-discipline along with his skilled street racing profession with Ineos Grenadiers.
A second gold off-road is once more his main purpose, with COVID-19 and the lottery of the 90-rider, rolling street race, making a second success within the street race harder.
“My predominant purpose is the mountain bike race. I am going to consider the street race on Tuesday,” he mentioned, lining up his aims and hopes.
“I might be pleased with the medal of the street race. The groups are fairly small, so it could possibly be fairly a unique racing dynamic. It is fairly an unknown. Possibly we’ve got to race a bit extra open minded, a bit extra aggressively than we might usually with groups to manage.
“You could possibly undoubtedly play it sensible and form of get a free experience to the end in sure conditions. And it may be vital to have a powerful group in order that we will be close to the entrance with numbers to play these video games.”
“It is suited to the fellows with uncooked energy, the large sprinters like Van der Poel, Pedersen and others. However a man like Remco Evenepoel may also go far as a result of the groups are very small. It is going to be numerous perhaps fairly unstructured.”
Successful a gold medal within the mountain bike race in Tokyo was a profession spotlight for Pidcock. He has nonetheless to fulfil his ambitions in Grand Excursions however that could be a purpose for the long-term future. The summer season of 2024 is about extra Olympic success.
“Successful in Tokyo was a type of moments I am going to always remember,” he mentioned. “The Olympics transcends biking as a sport. The sensation of representing your nation on the Olympics shouldn’t be like the rest.
“You are form of representing the entire nation and you are feeling that it is form of a weight in your again. It might probably push you alongside if you happen to let it, or if you happen to do not handle it, properly, perhaps you fall backwards. However you should utilize that to form of encourage your self, it pushes you on.
“It is also a platform to encourage folks. Personally, which means so much to me, having the ability to encourage and provides the fitting instance, by setting an instance.”
