Sam Gaze finished a New Zealand-best sixth in the men's Olympic cross-country mountain bike race, but his disappointment was evident after Monday's race.

The New Zealand rider had hoped for more, as his recent results had provided enough fuel to fuel his medal dreams. But for the short track world champion and silver medalist in the 2023 cross-country rainbow jersey race, the story that unfolded on the hills of Ellancourt was different. [Tom Pidcock (GBR), Victor Koretzky (FRA), and Alan Hatherly (SSA) won medals.

"I didn't come here for this," Gaze said of his sixth-place finish. But I didn't have the legs to keep up with Pidcock."

Gaze lined up in the second row of the 36 starters, but lost the battle for position on the banked gravel heading into the tight sections of the eight-lap, 1 hour 26 minute long race. In the first time-split, he was just outside the top 20, but he continued to make up ground and by mid-race was one of the key riders in the top five, chasing Koretzky and Hatherly.

"I'm pretty heartbroken, but I did everything I could," Gaze said in his post-race comments.

"It was a terrible start, not a good enough start.

The moment when the medal seemed within reach passed when Pidcock (back in the race after a puncture) first joined the chase group that included Gaze and pushed the pace on lap 5. Pidcock, the defending champion, ran after the South African rider and home country favorite, while the New Zealanders followed Pidcock.

"When I tried to follow Pidcock back to Alan Hatherly, that was it. I knew then that I had no power. That was the moment I lost it," Gaze said in a report in the New Zealand Herald.

However, in his second Olympics, Gaze qualified for Rio but missed out on Tokyo, but continued to fight for the best finish, finishing in sixth place, 1:41 behind two-time Olympic gold medalist Pidcock.

This result may not have been what Gaze was looking for, but he has come a long way in the eight years since he first competed at the Rio Olympics at age 20, where he was lapped and finished 37th. But the 28-year-old, who also competes as a road racer for Alpecin Deceuninck, is aiming for even better next time.

"When I look back tomorrow, I will know it was a ride to be proud of," Gaze said in a Cycling New Zealand media release.

"I'm already starting to think about the World Championships next month and then Los Angeles in four years time."

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