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MTB | UCI Mountain Bike World Championships Hatherly wins Elite cross-country Olympic title

The early pace came from newly-crowned XCC UCI World Champion Victor Koretzky (FRA) and bronze medalist Alan Hatherly (RSA), along with Frenchman Jordan Sarrou, Mathias Flückiger (SUI) and Luca Schwarzbauer (GER).

Even at six laps it was a race of attrition, with gaps stretching out throughout the field and stars such as Nino Schurter (SUI), Christopher Blevins (USA) and Sam Gaze (NZL) outside of the top ten.

Onto the penultimate lap, Hatherly and Koretzky – Olympic silver medalist – were seven seconds ahead of two Britons: Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock and Charlie Aldridge. Mathis Azzaro (FRA) and Luca Braidot (ITA) were the only other riders within 30 seconds of the leaders.

The Frenchman attacked on the last long climb, and the South African matched him, then went past and never looked back. Hatherly – after bronze in the XCC, and winning the most recent UCI World Cup round at Les Gets, France – was on fire. He adds the 2024 XCO rainbow jersey to his 2018 Under-23 XCO and 2019 E-MTB cross-country (E-MTB) titles.

1. Alan Hatherly (RSA), 1.09:51

2. Victor Koretzky (FRA), +0:22

3. Tom Pidcock (GBR), +0:39

“I’m really emotional to be honest. I knew I had good legs but to be able to win like that is a dream come true,” said Hatherly. “Those bands are going to stay on my arm forever and I’m looking forward to wearing them for the rest of the season and next season for sure.”

Source: UCI

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