Hatherly produces final round masterclass to clinch XCO World Cup overall
Alan Hatherly was in a strong position going into the final round of the season, but his overall title wasn’t a foregone conclusion – Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing) able to swoop in and leapfrog the South African if he won and Hatherly finished further down the pack.
As soon as the racing started though, it was quite clear that there was only way the 2024 WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series was ending.
Hatherly was on a flyer from the off, going solo to build a 20-second lead in the first lap. The UCI XCO World Champion continued to extend the gap between him and the chasing pack, which was led by Koretzky and Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon Ford Racing Team).
The pair kept the South African on an invisible leash, holding the rainbow jersey’s advantage at 30 seconds as the race approached its midway point.
Koretzky soon started the flag though – a season’s exploits catching up with the Frenchman as his chances of a second-consecutive XCC-XCO double started to fade. Azzaro – second-place yesterday in the XCC race – meanwhile appeared energised, and started to reel Hatherly in. By lap six, the Frenchman had finally got onto the race leader’s rear wheel, but within minutes Hatherly was out of the saddle, attacking to try and drop Azzaro just as he was recovering from his exploits. Azzaro initially held Hatherly’s wheel on the long, drawn-out climb, but the rainbow jersey soon started to disappear into the distance, increasing his advantage to 14-seconds as he crossed the start-finish lap for the penultimate time.
The Frenchman had nothing left in the tank, and Hatherly was able to complete a victory lap in front of huge crowds in Canada – the South African putting on a masterclass in Mont-Sainte-Anne.
While first and second were settled, there was a scrap for third with Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing), Koretzky and Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team). Alridge appeared to have the advantage after attacking on the final long climb, but Koretzky simply doesn’t know when he’s beaten – the XCC overall series winner using his sprinting skills to overtake the Scotsman in the dying stages of the season to clinch third and confirm second in the overall.
Speaking after the race, Alan Hatherly said: “The overall was one objective for today. The main objective was to win with the rainbow jersey. 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. I was really excited. I went to the front in the start lap and got a gap straight away and I was like ‘okay, let’s go long’. 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.“
Candice Lill claims third in the XCO World Cup overall
Privateer, Candice Lill fought a close battle with overall series winner Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) for fourth place in the final round of the UCI XCO World Cup in Mont-Sainte-Anne. She secured third place in XCO overall series in the process.
