Tom Pidcock tested positive for COVID-19 for six days after withdrawing before stage 14 of the Tour de France, but the Briton believes he has recovered in time to go for his second consecutive gold medal in the mountain bike competition in Paris on Monday.

Pidcock will compete in the mountain bike event in Elancourt, southwest of Paris, on Monday, July 29, before leading the British men's team in the Olympic road race on Saturday, August 3. The women's mountain bike competition will take place on Sunday, July 28.

“I'm fine,” Pidcock said of his recovery from COVID-19 from Team GB's hotel outside Paris on Friday morning.

“The plan was always to finish the Tour, and getting sick was never part of that plan.

“I'm in a good place. I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm recovering well. And yes, I think I'm pretty happy with how I'm recovering."

Pidcock and the other riders made a final reconnaissance run on Elancourt Hill on Wednesday. The track was then wet with rain, but this did not change the race or the opinions of Pidcock and the other riders who participated in last fall's test event.

The winding circuit up and down Elancourt Hill is mostly man-made gravel roads with the addition of rocks and other technical features. Piddock does not like this course, but still races for the gold medal.

“It's not the best course in the world, but it's the same for everyone. It's a bland course and I think it could have been made more suitable for mountain biking.”

“I like mountain biking because there are reasons that drive me to enjoy it. The trails, the places you can go. Just graveling down a hillside is not mountain biking.”

Road racing would have a different dynamic.

Yorkshireman, 24, won a gold medal in mountain biking in Tokyo and has a professional road racing career with Ineos Grenadiers.

A second gold medal in off-road is his major goal, with COVID-19 and the 90-man rolling road race draw making a second success in road racing more difficult.

“My biggest goal is mountain bike racing. I'm going to think about road racing on Tuesday,” he said, laying out his goals and hopes.

“I'm happy with the road race medal. The team is quite small, so it could be a very different race. It's an unknown world. With the team in control, I might have to race a little more aggressive than usual, with an open mind.”

“We might be able to race sensibly and, depending on the circumstances, have a free run to the finish. And it will be important to have a strong team so that we can stay near the front with numbers of people to make that kind of run.”

“It's good for big sprinters like Van der Pol and Pedersen, athletes with raw power. But athletes like Lemko Evenpoel can also go far because their teams are small. It will be quite a lot, maybe quite an unstructured race.”

Winning gold in the Tokyo mountain bike race was a career highlight for Pidcock. He has yet to fulfill his Grand Tour ambitions, but that is a goal for the long-term future; in the summer of 2024, he will aim for further Olympic success.

“Winning in Tokyo was one of the moments I will never forget,” he said. The Olympics transcends cycling as a sport. The feeling of representing your country in the Olympics is like nothing else.

“It's like representing an entire country, and that feels like a weight off your back. That weight can push you back if you allow it to, and if you don't handle it well, it can fall back. But you can also use it as motivation.

“It's also a platform to inspire people. Personally, it means a lot to me to be able to inspire people by setting an example and setting the right example.

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