It was a “dream come true” for South Africa’s Alan Hatherly after he won the men’s under-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, today.
The Team Spur rider improved on his second place last year to complete the six-lap course in a time of 1:21:22, beating America’s Christopher Blevins by 27 seconds. Netherland’s David Nordemann completed the podium.
It was a “dream come true” for South Africa’s Alan Hatherly after he won the men’s under-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, today. Photo: UCI
“I’m stoked; I had a taste of victory in Mont-Sainte-Anne a month ago and since then I’ve just been been grinding it out. I knew the possibility of winning was quite good,” a delighted Hatherly said afterwards.
“I can’t believe that I pulled it off,” he said, adding that he usually struggled racing at altitude.
Last year Hatherly lost out narrowly to New Zealand’s Sam Gaze, who now races in the elite category.
“To do one better this year was unbelievable. Winning today was a dream come true.”
Hatherly played a game of cat and mouse against Blevins throughout the race, but he said he did not want it to come down to a sprint finish.
“Chris has a really big kick on him from his road racing so on the last lap I wound it up and managed to get a gap and kept it safe to the line.”
He managed to break a nine-year drought for a South African winning a world championship gold medal, since the late Burry Stander won the men’s U23 race in 2009 in Australia.
