Tom Pidcock feeling mentally ‘frazzled’ over speculation about his future

Five days after defying a flat tyre of his own to successfully defend his mountain bike title at these Games, Pidcock said he felt “sluggish” as he fought to 13th place, but the 25-year-old then suggested distractions off the bike had taken a toll.

Pidcock is contracted to the Ineos Grenadiers until 2027 but his agent Andrew McQuaid has fuelled speculation this week, saying that “the problem with long-term contracts is that things can change over time”.

At the end of the 273km road race, Pidcock said: “I didn’t have that extra punch; I was a bit sluggish and slow, and so I was never really in the proper race…

“I didn’t feel like myself. I didn’t get much sleep after the mountain bike and too many people gave me birthday cake on my birthday (Tuesday). I had to take it really easy all week to try to freshen up. I was also mentally exhausted with the Olympics and everything else going on.”

When asked directly about his future, Pidcock said: “Yeah, that’s why I am mentally a bit frazzled.”

Pidcock never had the legs to match Evenepoel, who followed up last weekend’s time trial win with another dominant performance – despite the drama of a late bike change.

Victory made Evenepoel the first ever man to win both the road race and the time trial in the same Olympic Games, and the first rider to do it since the Netherlands’ Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel claimed the double in Sydney in 2000.

After more than six hours of racing Evenepoel dropped Frenchman Valentin Madouas to go alone and open up a gap of more than a minute.

It was a cushion the 24-year-old Belgian would need as his back wheel deflated coming past the Louvre, scrambling for a spare bike with just 3.8 kilometres remaining.

There was a look of panic on Evenepoel’s face as he begged a TV motorbike for a time check, but he had no reason to worry as he won by one minute and 11 seconds from Madouas with another Frenchman, Christophe Laporte, third.

“It was a pretty stressful moment,” Evenepoel said. “About one kilometre before the incident the motorbike next to me showed a sign of 25 seconds advantage. I think that was incorrect, but it was why I was stressed because I was expecting Valentin to pass me.

“I just hit a cobble with my back wheel and the tyre was straightaway flat. I had to change but I think we did it as smoothly as possible, but yeah, maybe it was a bit of extra spice on the victory.”

The longest road race in Olympic history was tackled by the smallest ever peloton of 90 riders. With no more than four riders per team and no race radios, it was a recipe for chaos and so it proved long before they got the city centre circuit and the steep cobbled climb of the Butte Montmartre.

Ben Healy was key to igniting it in his trademark style. After his team-mate Ryan Mullen had already gone up the road, the Irishman attacked with 93km left, spending the rest of the day in breakaways on his way to 10th place.

“I think I did what I could and played my cards the best way I knew how,” Healy said. “Maybe if I had a tiny bit more in the tank I could have been in with a shout of a medal. I am super proud of that performance and a top-10 finish is nothing to be sniffed at.”