Tom Pidcock powered to the cross-country bronze medal ahead of fourth-placed Charlie Aldridge in a relentless elite men’s race on the final day of the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra.
With storms on the horizon, a last-minute schedule change saw the under-23 men kick off proceedings early in the morning, with the elite and under-23 women racing together before the elite men rounded off the championships.
Elite men’s cross-country
Charlie Aldridge started well, settling comfortably into the top eight, as Tom Pidcock was mid-pack in the first lap of the race. With starts never being Pidcock’s strong point, the British rider kept calm and began to pick his way through the bunch, sitting 20 seconds back coming into lap two.
Aldridge remained in contact near the front, settling into the top five, and using his technically sound judgement to conserve energy where he could. Viktor Koretsky (France) turned the screw and pushed on the pace in the second lap, with Aldridge glued to his wheel. Further back, Pidcock was making huge moves to find his way through the bunch, moving up into ninth place on the second lap.
On the third lap, Aldridge moved into first place, with Alan Hatherley (South Africa) and Koretsky getting ahead as Pidcock made it into fifth position.
In the fourth lap, with Aldridge, Hatherly and Koretsky all watching each other up the grass climb, Pidcock made his move attacking ferociously to make it to the front. Pidcock wasted no time putting the hammer down, but Hatherley and Koretsky quickly went round him and continued to pile on the pressure.
Hatherley and Koretsky attacked hard up the ‘heartbreak’ climb, forcing a gap on Pidcock, with Mathias Azzaro (France) and Aldridge on his wheel.
Pidcock did not give up, sprinting hard up the climbs, and descending with blistering speed to chase the seven second gap between him and the front pair. Aldridge continued to follow Pidcock’s wheel closely, and the British pair crossed the line into the penultimate lap just six seconds behind the leaders.
Aldridge moved ahead of the Olympic champion, and quickly gained a seven second gap on Pidcock as he chased the front two.
Taking the bell lap, Pidcock accelerated past Aldridge in a bid to finally close the gap to the front two. Seeing the danger behind, Koretsky attacked hard, extending the gap once again to 16 seconds.
With half a lap to go, Hatherly attacked again and overtook the Frenchman to seal his crown as the world champion, while the battle for bronze ensued behind with Aldridge in sight of Pidcock. The technical rocky descent saw Pidcock show brilliant technical ability and speed, and extend his advantage to Aldridge.
Coming into the final straight, Pidcock was well ahead of his compatriot to take bronze, as Aldridge cruised into fourth at his first elite world championships. Cameron Orr had a great start to the race, but unfortunately did not finish.
Elite women’s cross-country
Evie Richards came back from an early crash to claim a sensational sixth place, having won the short track world title earlier in the week, to round off her world championship campaign.
Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) stormed off the front from the gun, with Richards looking comfortable in fifth place within the first half of the lap.
Facing the first rocky descent, Richards suffered a heavy fall but showed her tenacity and determination to jump straight back onto her bike. Keeping composed, Richards lost a few places, dropping back to ninth, but did not let the early crash faze her.
Coming into the second lap, Pieterse was pushing on solo, with Candice Lill (South Africa) chasing behind. Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) sat in third as Richards looked comfortable in ninth place.
Pieterse, Lill and Ferrand-Prevot came together in the second lap but got separated once again with Ferrand-Prevot going backwards, in what was her final cross-country race. Pietrse and Lill tussled for the front into the third lap, as further back, Richards continued to ride within herself in 10th position.
The third lap saw Richards begin to move it up a gear, moving up into sixth place, 17 seconds behind the podium places. Pieterse began to make her move, distancing Lill, with Richards in sight of the chasing group behind them.
In the penultimate lap, the British rider continued to come through at speed to try and reel back the gap. Up ahead, Lill crashed in the feed zone, allowing Anne Terpstra (Netherlands) to overtake her as Pieterse continued to extend her lead.
Richards still looked strong taking the bell lap, maintaining sixth place and battling alone. The short track champion rode incredibly well, picking up speed in the final lap, and crossing the line in sixth place to show an incredible comeback. Isla Short finished in 36th place, while Annie Last came home 47th.
Under-23 women’s cross-country
Racing in with the elites, Ella Maclean-Howell had a strong start, staying within the top six under-23's in the opening two laps.
Maclean-Howell continued to work well with Kira Bohm (Germany) to chase the leaders, including Olivia Onesti (France) and Isabella Holmgren (Canada).
Maclean-Howell moved up into fifth position and distanced herself to battle on solo for the rest of the race. Up ahead, Holmgren (Canada) was the clear leader off the front.
The British rider continued to show her technical prowess and speed, and crossed the line in a fantastic fifth place, adding to her silver medal finish in the under-23 short track race earlier this week.
Under-23 men’s cross-country Olympic
The British under-23 men raced consistently from start to finish. Being gridded near the back, Max Greensill and Joe Blackmore fought their way through to finish 25th and 26th, respectively.
The Great Britain Cycling Team come away from the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships with a total of five medals – one gold (Evie Richards – elite short track), two silver (Charlie Aldridge – elite short track, Ella Maclean-Howell – under-23 short track) and two bronzes (Tahnee Seagrave – downhill, Tom Pidcock – elite cross-country).
