Tom Pidcock criticises 'bland' mountain bike course at Paris Olympics

Tom Pidcock, the reigning cross-country Olympic mountain bike champion, has said the course for his title defence in Paris is "bland" and "just gravel". 

The 24-year-old spent time completing a recon of the course in Élancourt Hill, 25 miles west of Paris, on Wednesday. The site counts the highest point in the Paris region, at 231m, and consists of manmade gravel switchbacks. 

Speaking in a press conference on Friday morning, Pidcock said the Paris Olympic Games course is "not really mountain bike". 

"It's bland and I think they could have done a better job of making a more mountain bike course," he said. "It's not the best course in the world, but its the same for everyone so…

"We love mountain biking for the reasons that drive us to enjoy it for what it is. That's the courses you get to ride, the places you get to go to. When you just gravel over a nice hillside, it's not really mountain bike."

Pidcock's views were generally shared by his Team GB teammate, Evie Richards, who will compete in the women's event on Sunday, the day before the men's race. 

"I wouldn't say it's not hard enough. I think, just as mountain bikers, a natural course which changes with the conditions is quite a cool thing, that's what we love to race," said Richards, who finished seventh in Tokyo. "But I think they've done the best they've done, being how close it is to Paris. I suppose it's not the easiest thing to do to just pop up a mountain bike course anywhere. 

"If I was the designer I'd have it more natural, with a lot more natural features, rather than man-made. But I think we normally see that at Olympic Games. It's normally a bit of a different course from what we'd race at World Cups, but I think that's just because when we race World Cups, we're normally in the Alps somewhere, somewhere in a nice ski resort. This is super close to the city centre." 

Both athletes expect the straightforward course to make for more simple racing. "There’s also not much thinking to go into it," Pidcock explained. "It’s kind of one [racing] line, you just go down there."

Richards said the course is "easier to learn", with "less choices" to be made when racing. "I suppose, technically, you still have to be good, because you still have to ride on gravel," she said. 

The course for the cross-country mountain bike events is 4.4km long, with 110m elevation gain per lap. The number of laps will be agreed by the team managers the day before the competition, in order to reach a race time of between one hour and 20 minutes and one hour and 40 minutes for both the men and women. 

The women's race will take place at 13:10 (BST) on Sunday 28 July, with the men's race at the same time on Monday 28 July.