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Victor Koretzky (France) won the elite men’s mountain bike cross-country race that served as the Olympic MTB Test Event held at Elancourt, west of Paris. Koretzky won a two-up sprint to the line, beating Anton Cooper (New Zealand) by one second and Nino Schurter (Switzerland) by four seconds.
It was a highly anticipated event with the field that included newly crowned cross-country world champion and reigning Olympic champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and road race world champion Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands), both riders opting to race at the UEC Road European Championships.
Van der Poel started in the back row of 39 competitors for the test event and finished 28th place on the day. However, he said the result was not a priority and that he travelled to Paris so that he could get to know the circuit, which included a 2.2km starting loop and then the main 4.5km circuit.
Van der Poel moved up to the main chase group of eight riders by the third of six laps. The leading group included Koretzky, Cooper and Schurter, along with Jordan Sarrou (France).
Although the Dutchman tried to bridge the gap, he couldn’t make it across to the leaders and then drifted back into 28th place.
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