MTB – XCO – World Cup 2024 – 8 – Mont-Sainte-Anne [FULL RACE]

October 6, 2024

MTB – XCO – World Cup 2024 ME – 8 – Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada 🇨🇦

Cross-country Olympic, named because it’s the only format of mountain biking included in the Olympics, sees a big pack of riders take on laps of a natural, challenging track. The laps themselves can vary from 3km to 10km in length, and the number will vary, but the races will always be around 90 minutes for men and women. The track itself is designed to test the rider’s full range of abilities over a mixture of terrain: singletracks, dirt, grass, sand, rocks and some tarmac. Courses have many obstacles to negotiate – artificial and natural – and often incorporate ramps, berms, jumps, drops and rock gardens. As well as the features, there will be climbs and descents to deal with,

In a fitting finale for the Whoop UCI Mountain Bike World Series, ,the rainbow jersey-clad Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) delivered a dominant performance in the elite men’s cross-country Olympic race on Sunday to claim both victory on the day and the overall series win.

Hatherly was already leading the series heading into the technical Canadian race at Mont-Sainte-Anne. Just one rider who could pose a threat overall, the in-form Victor Koretzky (Specialized Factory Racing), and only if the French rider won and Hatherly slipped well into the back half of the field. The South African, however, had little intention of letting either scenario come to pass.

“The overall was one objective for today. The main objective was to win with the rainbow jersey,” said Hatherly in a race media release. “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 had already carved out a gap of around 30 seconds to the first chase group by the end of the first lap of eight. At one point Mathis Azzaro (Decathlon Ford Racing Team) closed the gap, but an attack from the world champion soon meant he was out the front solo again.

“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.”

In the end Hatherly crossed the line 30 seconds ahead of the second-placed Azzaro. Koretzky was a further 18 seconds back, taking third on the day and second in the series overall.

Results :