Crans-Montana: South African Alan Hatherly has been carving his own space in mountain biking. At the Paris Olympics, he became the first non-European cyclist to win a medal in the men’s Olympic mountain bike event.
He won bronze in the cross-country Olympic (XCO) discipline which has been part of cycling’s Olympic programme since Atlanta 1996. Since then, he has found another gear in his career. On Sunday, he defended his world title at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships with a dominant win.
Negotiating a tough terrain, Hatherly took advantage of a lapse from early leader Victor Koretzky of France and raced ahead. Italy’s Simone Avondetto claimed silver while Koretzky took bronze.
“It’s an incredibly tough course, one of the hardest courses. This is one of those performances that will be very hard for me to repeat again. I guess all the stars were aligned to get such a result,” Hatherly told HT.
“A course like this really suits a time trial and a less tactical race. I said that before. I took a good lead and was able to consolidate. On Lap 2, a small mistake (by another rider) on a technical uphill gave me my moment. I got ahead straight away and played along. I had a feeling I was going to suffer at some point, so my goal was to make sure that the gap was big enough and just keep it up. It’s a dream come true to win here.”
Europe is the destination for cycling, with a strong culture. Most major competitions also take place across the continent. Being a non-European, it hasn’t been easy for Hatherly to make his mark at the elite level. He prepared for the Paris Olympics with his base in Andorra.
“Basing yourself in Europe for a couple of months makes a big difference. But you’re living out of a suitcase essentially for half the year. You are never really at home. It’s quite a challenge. It took me a good 6-7 years before I actually started getting confident about myself and reaching that level. Now I have found a rhythm and momentum, so it is fine,” he said.
“But you need a lot of patience and a lot of sacrifices have to be made. You give up all your friends and environment trying to chase these goals like World Championships. When you win a trophy like I have now, it makes you feel really good.”
With his Olympic medal, 29-year-old Hatherly says South Africa is looking good in cycling. Jacobs Taylor won in the cross-country short track women’s U-23 competition. “We are going from strength to strength. Jacob won a bronze medal. We’ve got a lot of youngsters coming through, and in a few years South Africa will be chasing podium finishes in XCO (Olympic cross-country).”
