Team SA Olympic bronze medallist Alan Hatherly signed off on a special 2024 when he won the elite men’s cross-country race, at the final event of the UCI Mountain Bike World Series.
Hatherly, representing Cannondale Factory Racing, was already leading the series heading into the technical Canadian race at Mont-Sainte-Anne and made no mistakes. “The overall was one objective for today. The main objective was to win with the rainbow jersey,” said Hatherly aftterwards. “It’s one thing to win the UCI World Championships but I wanted to win a UCI World Cup again this year just to finish.”
Hatherly (pictured) built a 30-second lead by the end of the first of eight lap. Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) closed the gap but the South African soon re-established his dominance. He went on to win by 30 seconds and also be cxrowned ovcerall world series champion.
“I went to the front in the start lap and got a gap straight away and I was like ‘okay, let’s go long’,” said Hatherly. “It was super tough and I had to be tactical when Mathis caught me, but I had more in the tank and just emptied it.”
“I thought – this is it, the final 20 minutes of racing for the year and I just need to go for it – and I did exactly that.”
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