Mountain Bike World Championships: Tom Pidcock dedicates second title to Fin Tarling

Tom Pidcock has won back-to-back Olympic golds

Great Britain's Tom Pidcock paid an emotional tribute to Fin Tarling after winning his second cross-country world title at the Mountain Bike World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy.

British cyclist Tarling, 19, died after an accident during the Volta a Portugal earlier this month.

Pidcock, a two-time Olympic champion, said: "I want to dedicate this win to Fin Tarling and Josh [Tarling] - seeing him start the Vuelta was pretty incredible.

"I want to dedicate this to him and his family."

The 27-year-old, who won mountain bike gold at the Paris Olympics, added to his 2023 world title that he won in Scotland.

Having been a last-minute entrant after finishing ninth in this year's Tour de France, Pidcock finished 17 seconds clear of Great Britain team-mate Charlie Aldridge - who took his second silver of the championships - with Canada's Cole Punchard third.

Pidcock dedicates win to Tarling

Pidcock accelerated clear of Aldridge on lap seven of eight, riding clear before embracing the crowd and lifting up his bike at the finish line in a time of one hour 25 minutes and 26 seconds.

"I crashed pretty badly in practice on Friday and my back was hurting from the first lap. The last two laps I just had to push and stretch that gap before a final sprint. That was a pretty hard race," he added.

Switzerland's Sina Frei won the women's cross-country title, with Great Britain's Evie Richards crossing in sixth place.

On Thursday Richards, 29, narrowly missed out on a second elite women's short track world title as she was edged into second on the line by Austria's Laura Stigger.

Having rounded the final corner in the lead, Richards faded as Stigger came on her left to take the title by little more than a wheel rim.

Aldridge also picked up silver on Thursday in the elite men's short track.

The 25-year-old looked in control on the long final straight but France's Adrien Boichis pipped him to gold.

In the downhill on Saturday, Great Britain's Harriet Harnden claimed bronze in the women's event and Jordan Williams did the same in the men's.

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