Olympique Daily: On Heartbreak Hill

A classic showdown on the gravel, the triathlon is full of s***, and we put a lens on a shot for the ages ($)

Sam Gaze. Getty Images

A wrap of three big stories in the daily Olympic newsletter that is not really daily.

1. The cross-country mountain biking has been both disappointing and brilliant all at once, due to a venue that provided sensational made-for-television pictures, yet failed to test the full-range of a rider’s skills.

One of the course’ biggest critics also happened to provide one of the Great Olympic Moments™. Defending champion Tom Pidcock had dismissed the Elancourt Hill course as “bland” and what you get when you “just gravel over a nice hillside” and it is true that the event, like the women’s the day before, was basically a drag race, with few sections to challenge tired minds and bodies, or turn micro-mistakes into bigger ones as the race went on. 

But what a drag race it was, as Pidcock recovered from a puncture to come storming back to overtake local hero Victor Koretzky in the final dash, using an aggressive overtake that was too much for some booing locals to accept with good grace.