Team GB mountain biker Tom Pidcock successfully defended his gold medal, recovering from a mid-race puncture to snatch victory in dramatic fashion.

He slipped down to ninth after the puncture on his fourth lap, trailing the leader by 40 seconds, but made up the ground to beat home favourite Victor Koretzky over the line by nine seconds.

In a tense final lap, the pair exchanged the lead, but in a superb overtake through the trees, Pidcock edged back in front and held his nerve to win his second goal medal.

Pidcock, who had to withdraw from the Tour de France after suffering from Covid-19 earlier this month, said he was determined to do whatever it took to get his hands back on the gold medal.

"It wasn't easy," he told BBC Sport after the race. "I'm keeping my glasses on for a reason.

"The Olympics is so special, you never give up, you give everything, and that is what I had to do.

"I knew that Victor was going to be fast in the last lap even if I couldn't get rid of him. I knew it was going to be a big fight, and he left a gap and I had to take it.

The Pidcock overtake

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"That's racing. I know people might view it differently, but sport is about not giving up. It is a shame that the French were booing me, but you know."

Pidcock had made a quick start, pushing to the front of the pack before being slowed down by the wheel change, but he was quick to brush off the problem.

"I knew that the first thing was to stay calm, I didn't really let it affect me," he added. "All I could do was stay calm and come back as best I could. I wanted to come back to the front, that's all I cared about.

"There's no point in stressing about [the slow wheel change], that's not going to help me get back to the front. I was lucky it happened early on, so there was time to come back to the front."

Pidcock will have another chance to go for gold in the road race on Saturday.