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Alan Hatherly rides a rocky, rooted, dusty descent at the World Mountain Bike Championships in Pal Arinsal, Andorra.

MTB World Champs: Hatherly puts it all together

The South African's breakthrough season continues with a near-perfect ride at the World Championshps.

Joe Lindsey
by Joe Lindsey 01.09.2024 Photography by
Piper Albrecht
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Alan Hatherly has been knocking at the door for several years now in men’s cross-country, but 2024 is the season he finally got the answer he wanted. The South African rode a sterling, tactically perfect race on a dry, dusty course in Andorra to take the XCO World Championship in a breakthrough year where he also notched his first-ever World Cup victory not two months ago. Friday’s short-track winner Victor Koretzky (France) was runner-up for the second major XCO in a row, while Olympic champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) fought a gritty battle for third.

What was already a packed Sunday schedule – with U23 and elite men’s and women’s races all on one day and the women’s elite and U23 fields compressed into one race – got even more jammed when organizers moved up the starts due to forecasts for thunderstorms. But racing took place under partly sunny skies and the Pal Arinsal course familiar from World Cup rounds could honestly have used a bit of a drink, with tire-deep moon dust in many spots and ruts in the technical sections from eleventy events and practice sessions all week.

How it happened

Victor Koretzky leads Luca Schwarzbauer, Filippo Colombo and other riders in the early going, while Alan Hatherly takes his own line next to them.
During the early going, several riders including Koretzky pushed the pace, while Hatherly’s strategy was mostly just to watch and wait.
Alan Hatherly comes around Victor Koretzky near the top of a steep, dusty climb. Fans line the course cheering, and both riders are out of the saddle with the effort.
Hatherly’s last-lap counter toward the top of one of the steep, straight climbs proved the move of the race.

Brief analysis

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