Flat tyre robs Henderson, French ace finally wins MTB

Australian Bec Henderson has finished 13th at the Olympic mountain bike race. (AP PHOTO)

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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