Day 10 Round-up

PIDCOCK PULLS IT OUT OF THE BAG

The final day of off-road racing at Glentress Forest certainly didn’t disappoint. The Tweed Valley venue was hosting both the men’s and women’s elite mountain bike cross-country Olympic finals, and with star-studded fields, the crowds were guaranteed a treat.

First up, the women’s race saw Thursday’s short track champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (France) repeat her double from 2022, surging away from compatriot Loanna Lecomte on the first full lap to build an unassailable lead and become a five-time MTB XCO world champion. Short track silver medalist Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) completed the podium, with Great Britain’s Evie Richards finishing a respectable sixth.

In the men’s race, all eyes were Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands) and Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) to see if they could continue their multi-discipline supremacy. The new men’s elite road race world champion crashed out on the start lap, ending his chances of simultaneously holding the road, mountain bike cross-country and cyclo-cross rainbow jerseys, but Pidcock persevered, overcoming a fifth-row start and mechanical problems to win his first-ever mountain bike world title in front of a packed finish straight.

Short-track gold medalist Sam Gaze (New Zealand) put in a late push to finish second, while the G.O.A.T Nino Schurter (Switzerland) had to settle for third.

LAURANCE OUTRUNS THE CHASING PACK

The men’s U23 road race saw the best young riders take on a 168.4km route that set off from Loch Lomond and took in the climb of Crow Road before embarking on seven laps of the Glasgow city centre circuit.

A lead group of six including Great Britain’s Jack Rootkin-Gray went up the road early and the peloton were unable to claw back their early advantage. France’s Axel Laurance made a solo break when the group had made it to Glasgow, and the chasing group couldn’t do anything about it, leaving them to contest a sprint while the Frenchman had crossed the line seconds before.

GREAT BRITAIN ADD FOUR MORE GOLDS

On the penultimate day of Para-Cycling Road action in Dumfries and Galloway, there were 12 rainbow jerseys up for grabs as the B and C categories. It was another day of rainbow jerseys for Great Britain too, with William Bjergfelt (men’s C5), Fin Graham (men’s C3), Frances Brown (C1) and Dame Sarah Storey (women’s C5) winning gold, Archie Atkinson (men’s C4) and Jenny Holl and Sophie Unwin (women’s B) bronze.

WEIGHTMAN AND CARTHY BRING IT HOME FOR BRITAIN

Finals day over on Glasgow Green certainly didn’t disappoint – Great Britain coming away with two out of the five gold medals on offer. At the start of proceedings, Oliver Weightman took the win in the men’s junior 20”, while the ultimate show of skill and technique was saved for the last run of the whole competition. Needing 50 points to win, Great Britain's Jack Carthy had it all to do, and the Yorkshireman didn’t disappoint - overcoming intense pressure and testing conditions to beat Oliver Widmann on timing alone, securing his third consecutive and sixth men’s elite 26” world title.

FINAL EIGHT FIRMED UP IN CYCLE BALL AND MORE AMAZING PERFORMANCES IN ARTISTIC CYCLING

The second day of Indoor Cycling at the Emirates Arena saw things reach fever pitch in the cycle ball and artistic cycling disciplines.

In the cycle ball, last year’s champions Austria made it through to the quarter finals top of League A and will be favourites to regain the title again. Great Britain meanwhile are out of the competition, scoring three goals across their six matches.

The artistic cycling saw Germany continuing their domination, with world titles secured in the open elite pair and men’s elite single.

QUARTER AND SEMI-FINALISTS CONFIRMED

After four days of BMX Racing Challenge earlier this week, today saw the elites take to Glasgow for their shot at qualifying for tomorrow's finals, and it's fair to say that the conditions were testing.

In the men's elite, Great Britain's Kye Whyte, Paddy Sharrock, Ross Cullen will all feature in the quarter-finals, while Bethany Shriever (Great Britain) and reigning world champion Felicia Stancil (USA) made it through in the women's elite heats.