On Monday, Tom Pidcock needed time to sort through his thoughts, emotions and energy after winning his second consecutive gold medal in the men's mountain bike cross country at the Paris Olympics.

Cycling News saw him with his head down on the barrier as the seconds ticked down to the medal ceremony, struggling with the fatigue of intense racing and the emotion of winning again three years after Tokyo.

The boos of the French crowd at the finish were replaced by appreciative applause for the medal ceremony, and Pidcock waved and smiled as he slowly realized what he had done and accomplished on the final lap.

The eight-lap race around the Elancourt hill was full of drama.

Pidock took the lead on the second lap, but then got a flat tire. Pidock took the lead on lap 2, but then suffered a flat tire.

Their epic final-lap duel included an attack, a mistake, and an instinctive and decisive pass by Pidcock at the split-single-track section.

Koretzky went right and took the long line. Pidcock dove to the left with speed and determination; the two came together, but Pidcock was slightly ahead and Koretzky lost speed.

Pidcock knew this was the moment that would decide the race and the gold medal.

"Definitely the most emotionally draining win," he said.

"The build-up to this victory went on for a long time, especially in my head. I had been waiting all week, and before that I had been training. It's not until you step on the finish line that it happens." [Coming in to defend the title is a whole different kind of pressure and expectation. Yes, it's much harder."

Pidcock's hopes of a medal appeared to be over when he suffered a flat tire on lap 4. At one point he was 40 seconds back, but he never gave up.

"It was not a fun race because I was in pain. I made two mistakes, a flat tire and going off the track, so I was fighting to make up for it."

"But excellence is one of the Olympic values. I came here to win.

Pidcock's determination was evident when he swooped in on Koretzky under the trees. It was a defining moment.

"I usually make a gap early in the mountain bike races, but I had a flat tire and it was all I could do to catch up. Victor is the fastest guy on the last lap of the mountain bike race, so I knew it was going to be super difficult. But I knew that if I could stay close to him, I could make the last spurt that he wasn't expecting."

When Pidcock and Koretzky collided in a stock car race moment that Pidcock described as "a race to rub," most of the spectators at the finish were French.

The crowd booed as Pidcock crossed the finish line, but race officials quickly confirmed that it was a "racing incident," and Pidcock became Olympic champion for the second time. Pidcock did not expect a different decision to be made.

"I did nothing wrong," he said.

"I was in front of him and he left the door open. We were racing for the gold medal. I wanted to win as much as he did."

"The booing was against the Olympic spirit and I was very disappointed. I can understand why they wanted Viktor to win. But I didn't boo the rock that punked me."

Pidcock hugged his partner and family emotionally at the finish and was ready to at least celebrate his 25th birthday on Tuesday. But he must rest soon and prepare for Saturday's road race (273 km around Paris, two 18-km laps around the hills around Montmartre).

We'll consider Pidcock's long-term future goals another day. He has his sights set on the Tour de France in a few years, but he loves mountain biking and the classics.

"I didn't want to talk about anything before the race," he said. Right now it's too tight to think about the next big goal."

"I can't say if I'm going for a third mountain gold medal. But that is still four years away. I want to celebrate and enjoy this second gold medal first."

Piddock also hopes to inspire future cyclists and future Olympians.

"The Olympics are bigger than cycling, and that's what makes the Olympics so special.

"People go back home, get into the Olympic spirit, celebrate gold medals. That's great. The biggest thing for me, my driving force, is to inspire people. That's what I love to do and I hope I was able to do that today."

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