Sam Gaze became the first elite Kiwi rider to win a world championship medal in mountain bike cross-country with a brilliant silver medal win in the elite men’s race in Scotland.
Gaze, who won the short-course rainbow jersey earlier in the competition, pushed up from being over 30 seconds behindin 36th place to move into medal contention on the penultimate lap. He closed on the leaders, passing legendary 10-time world champion Nico Shurter on the final lap to finish runner-up to Olympic champion and all-round sensation Tom Pidcock.
It was a staggering effort considering how far back he was in the pack for the first few laps, before picking off riders one by one in a stunning display of strength. The 27-year-old was 36th at the start, 25th after one lap, 19th after two, 13th after three and then eighth after four.
With three laps remaining, Gaze had moved to fourth, still 20 seconds from the leaders after setting the fastest lap of the race. He moved on to the back of the leaders and passed a tiring Schurter on the final lap, going on to finish second, 19 seconds behind winner Pidcock.
“I was quite unlucky in the start loop and got held up, but I just rode my pace, came back step by step, and rider by rider,” said Gaze. “I found myself riding for the podium with a lap and a half to go. A silver medal, second-best in the world, is really satisfying,” said Gaze.
“I did not really think about how far I was back. I knew it was a long race on an attritional course, so I just had to ride my speed. I have worked hard this year, but it has not really connected for me in the World Cups, so to come together at the worlds, I am super-happy.
“I just wanted to ride my bike to the best of my ability. It shows that I know how to be ready for the big days, which is important coming into Olympic year next year. I have every intention of going one place better there.”
Fellow Kiwi Anton Cooper also picked his way through the field to finish 10th, but the star was Pidcock, who had been largely focusing on the road before the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, before he hopped on a mountain bike and showed his strength, endurance and bike-handling ability in winning Britain’s first mountain biking medal of any colour.
Pidcock continues to compete on the road for the Ineos Grenadiers team, winning Strade Bianche earlier this year, along with a second-place finish in Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a third-place finish in the Amstel Gold Race. But he also won a pair of cyclocross races this past season, and his mountain bike World Cup win at Nove Mesto sent him to Scotland with confidence – so much so, he curiously skipped last week’s road race on a course that seemed to suit him perfectly.
“It’s been such a long week, waiting for the start of this race,” said Pidcock, who took bronze in the less prestigious short-track race Gaze won. “I don’t have much left now. I need to go lie down. But you know, I pulled my skinsuit on this morning, and it says in the collar, ‘Inspire the nation’, and I hope I did that.”
Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel, who got up from a late crash to secure the road race title last week, was trying to become the first male to hold the cyclocross, road race and mountain bike titles in the same year.
He crashed on a seemingly benign corner early in the mountain bike race, held his right knee in pain and ultimately did not finish.
The injury did not appear serious, and van der Poel conceded to Dutch media later “it was my own fault”.
