Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) adopted his quick observe victory on Saturday on the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series in Les Gets to develop into the primary South African to take an Olympic Cross Country World Cup title forward of Mathias Fluckiger (Switzerland).
Hatherly strikes into the general lead within the World Cup collection solely weeks forward of the Olympic Games in Paris and demonstrated dominant kind on in the present day’s circuit.
Initially breaking away from the primary discipline in a gaggle of three with Fluckiger and Luca Braidot (Italy) early within the 8-lap circuit.
Braidot briefly misplaced tempo with Fluckiger and Hatherly earlier than Hatherly attacked the Swiss rider on the lap’s most important climb, establishing a distance that grew to 30 seconds by lap 5.
Hatherly then had a managed particular person journey the place he distanced Fluckiger all through the course, ultimately ending in 1:23:14, 1:31 forward of the Swiss rider.
Braidot sprinted for the rostrum from a chase group, nevertheless it was Austrian rider Simon Andreassen (Cannondale Factory Racing) who gained the dash for third – giving Cannondale two spots on the rostrum.
“Unreal weekend,” Hatherly mentioned after the race completed.
“When we spoke earlier than the race and I sort of talked about the double I feel I sort of visualized it and yeah… I’m so joyful to have executed it. An unreal weekend for myself and for the group, and two boys on the field in each races!
“A great signal for the group and particularly for me resulting in the Games across the nook.”
Speaking about his pacing and his gradual breakdown of Fluckiger, Hatherly had at all times anticipated the race to be one in every of attrition. “It’s loads of repeated climbs right here, and should you go for it early on, you are gonna pay the invoice,” he mentioned.
“I used to be pleased with my pacing technique I simply cracked on and yeah, I used to be sort of stunned I rode away the way in which I did.”
Hatherly takes the general chief’s jersey for the World Cup collection, which can proceed in Crans-Montana, Valais, in mid-July forward of the Olympic Games.
Results
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