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AAP
AAP
Roger Vaughan

Flat tyre robs Henderson, French ace finally wins MTB

Rebecca Henderson has enjoyed her best Olympic result, while French star Pauline Ferrand-Prevot has fulfilled her destiny by winning mountain biking gold at the Paris Games.

Henderson - who joins Anna Meares and Lauren Reynolds as the only Australian female cyclists to compete at four Olympics - was 13th on Sunday at Elancourt Hill, south-west of Paris.

The 32-year-old would have finished higher, but suffered a puncture on the second-last of seven laps of the tough 4.4km circuit.

Ferrand-Prevot, the five-time world champion, took the lead on lap two and was never headed.

She won in one hour 26 minutes two seconds, with American Haley Batten 2:57  behind for second.

Swede Jenny Rissveds took the bronze.

It ws Ferrand-Prevot's first Olympic medal after she finished 10th in Tokyo and failed to finish in Rio.

Henderson, who finished 6:42 behind the winner, had a previous Olympic best of 24th in London on debut.

It was a welcome change of fortune for the Australian, who had endured a difficult season that she had said had almost been a disaster.

Henderson was unsure whether this would be her last Olympics.

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