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Whisper it quietly but we could have 2 British golds in the space of about 20 minutes. Tom Pidcock is leading the mountain biking with 75% of the race done. A lot could change though, especially in a sport like this. One of the pre race favourites, Mathieu van der Poel, crashed on the first lap and the possibilty of a flat tire is an ever present in a race like this.
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The expected gold for Adam Peaty overnight, then slightly more nailbiting for Daley and Lee to beat the Chinese this morning,Comment
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Dominant from Pidcock, made that look ridiculously easy. Sublime all round talent.Comment
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And that's gold medal # 3 for Great Britain! Tom Pidcock wins the men's cross county mountain bike competition!Comment
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Pidcock is such a talent. Would loved to have seen a true battle between him and MVDP though. Both absolute superstars of the future in both MTB and on the road.
Mention should go to Adam Burgess in canoe slalom. Missed bronze by 0.16 seconds. But 4th was way above his ranking coming into this, so a very creditable performance.
Up to 4th in the medal table right now, behind China, the US and the host nation.Comment
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Another medal for Great Britain is now guaranteed! Lauren Williams in the 67kg taekwondo semi-final wins and is through to the final, meaning she'll win either a silver or gold!Comment
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GB really motoring now - Great to see!Comment
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This has been a manic half hour, switching between diving, MTB and then taekwondo. Not complaining though!Comment
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RunUnlimited . Pidcock is already with Ineos and had a fantastic Classics season including winning one race and losing out by a tyre’s width on another.
He’s also superb at Cyclocross too.Comment
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The whole of the Taekwando 'family' are doing team GB proud. The actual sports men and women are performing so well, despite the 'shock' of Jade Jones, Lutalo Muhammad is an articulate and engaging 'presenter' (which isn't always a given when the Beeb employ a sporting icon) and the scottish commentator (forgive me, I dont know his name) is superb.
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Had a little cry today watching the Tom Daley/Matty Lee clips. I feel like we've watched Daley grow up. So pleased for himComment
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Honestly, the next 5 years or so, cycling could be a titanic battle all over the place between MVDP, WVA and Tom. All three are supremely talented. Then when you consider that Pidcock is 5 years younger than the other two...the mind boggles as to what he could do.Comment
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He won the jnr world TT champs and came 4th at the Euro U23 last year. So nothing spectacular but certainly not a slouch. He won the Baby Giro last year as well.
I'm not sure that he will be a good enough climber to win a GT itself, but he certainly should be capable of winning Monuments/Classics and should fancy his chances of World Champs RR and stage wins in GTs.
Basically a younger Alaphillipe, same as WVA and MVDP - I don't think any of them having the climbing of a Pog or Bernal but equally you would fancy them to beat the latter in a one day race or a sprint at the end of a stage if they can hang with them up a climb. Definitely can be in for polka dot jersey or two. -
If, that is, Ineos allow Pidcock to compete for stage wins on GTs, as this is not really how they have operated for the last decade as 'Sky', its mostly all-in for their GC hope. I would welcome the more Allaphillipe style approach, but unlikely to happen with Ineos, and I long fora young Brit to replace the vacuum left by Steve Cummings - possibly my favourite of that blessed generation of British track-to-road riders. -
Depends on circumstance, I guess. If he doesn't get the chances he wants I can't see him sticking at Ineos, unless they believe he has GC calibre.
I see no reason they won't support him in the Spring Classics though. But if he is at a GT as a super domestique and they still have a GC contender going into the final week, it makes sense to not waste him on breaks. If they don't have that contender, they'll do what they did last year with Kwiato and Carapaz and send them up the road for fun.
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