Events

Alan Hatherly claims podium in Les Gets World Cup

Supplied by Red Bull Content Pool.

· By Press Office · 19 comments

France’s Loana Lecomte maintained her perfect start to the 2021 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup XCO season with a dominant win in the Elite Women’s race in Les Gets on Sunday, while the Elite Men’s race was won in equally commanding fashion by Swiss rider Mathias Flückiger with South African Alan Hatherly riding to fourth place on the podium.

With new features adding an extra dimension to the Les Gets track and the rain falling heavily, the riders faced a tough challenge to tame the demanding course.

Mathias Flueckiger Les Gets.jpeg
Mathias Flückiger performs at UCI XCO World Cup in Les Gets. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

Elite Men

In the Men’s Elite, Flückiger came into the race full of confidence having excelled in Leogang and claimed victory in the Short Track on Friday.

The Swiss rider didn’t get off to the best start as Ondrej Cink, Luca Braidot, Alan Hatherly, Vlad Descalu and Nino Schurter all looked to make their move on the opening lap.

Ondrej Cink Les Gets.jpeg
Ondrej Cink. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

But when Flückiger attacked on the treacherous off-camber grass towards the end of the lap it was like he had found an extra gear and extra grip that no other rider had.

World Champion Jordan Sarrou was riding on home soil and, buoyed by the French crowds, rode up into a podium position on lap two.

Sarrou and Hatherly were separated by just a few seconds for most of the race, while Cink crept clear ahead and Schurter slipped a little way back, battling with Daniele Braidot for fifth.

Alan Hatherly Drop Les Gets.jpeg

Alan Hatherly Les Gets.jpeg
Alan Hatherly. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

As the riders battled to stay upright and the conditions worsened, Flückiger secured his second consecutive perfect weekend of World Cup racing with a mix of fun whips and safe dismounts on the final lap.

Cink was once again second, crossing the line 25-seconds back with the smile and clenched fist of a job well done, while a final lap attack from Sarrou secured third place and a huge cheer from the French supporters.

Flückiger said: “I took a lot of confidence from the last World Cup and from this season. Today was special with the changed conditions. I’m really happy with my performance, everything came together again today.”

Men Podium XCO Les Gets.jpeg
Men’s Podium. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

Elite Women

In the women’s race, Rocio Del Alba Garcia Martinez set the pace up the starting climb, quickly establishing a gap on the opening lap.

Jenny Rissveds was leading the chase and soon overtook the Spanish rider, only to see Lecomte storm in front, just as she did in Albstadt, Nové Město and Leogang.

Loana Lecomte Les Gets.jpeg
Loana Lecomte performs at UCI XCO World Cup in Les Gets. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

The young French rider went on to dominate the race, securing a 21-second lead over the chasing duo of Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Bec McConnell by the end of lap three.

Ferrand-Prevot had shown brilliant power to win the Short Track on Friday but was struggling a little in the conditions and began to slip back down the field, with Rissveds climbing into second and Evie Richards moving into third.

Lecomte was managing the pressure and the conditions with confidence and maturity, posting the fastest time every lap. However, further back there was some late drama when Ferrand-Prevot and McConnell came together near the finish.

Jenny Rissveds Les Gets.jpeg
Jenny Rissveds. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

Ferrand-Prevot managed to get out of the tangle ahead to take fourth place and McConnell took fifth.

For Lecomte, it was four wins from four races this season, while Rissveds high-fived the crowd as she came in second and Richards recorded her best ever XCO result with third.

Lecomte, 21, said: “It’s very special to race a World Cup in France and I’m very, very happy to win in front of my family and friends. Because of Friday’s race, I was a little anxious and stressed but we found the solution.”

Evie Richards Les Gets.jpeg
Evie Richards. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

Women Podium XCO Les Gets.jpeg
Women’s podium. Photo credit: Bartek Wolinski / Red Bull Content Pool.

The riders return to action in XCC and XCO at Lenzerheide from September 3-5.

Women’s XCO result
1. Loana Lecomte FRA 1hr27m23s
2. Jenny Rissveds SWE +0.51s
3. Evie Richards GBR +1.10
4. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot FRA + 1.51s
5. Rebecca McConnell AUS + 1.55s

Women’s XCO standings
1. Loana Lecomte FRA 1330 points
2. Pauline Ferrand-Prevot FRA 955
3. Jenny Rissveds SWE 780
4. Haley Batten USA 755
5. Rebecca McConnell AUS 710

Men’s XCO result
1. Mathias Fluckiger SUI 1hr27m33s
2. Ondrej Cink CZE +0.25s
3. Jordan Sarrou FRA +0.35s
4. Alan Hatherly RSA +0.39s
5. Nino Schurter SUI +1.21s

Men’s XCO standings
1. Mathias Flueckiger SUI 1169 points
2. Ondrej Cink CZE 934
3. Jordan Sarrou FRA 790
4. Victor Koretzky FRA 745
5. Nino Schurter SUI 734

Comments

FondTF2

Jul 5, 2021, 6:19 AM

Fantastic result considering the atrocious conditions 

Robbie Stewart

Jul 5, 2021, 6:24 AM

Well done to Hatherly. It seems like the era of Schurter's dominance is coming to an end, and I will not at all be surprised if he hangs up his boots at the end of the season unless he walks away with gold at the Olympics. It will be interesting to see who is going to come out tops there. I am thinking that Flueckiger is peaking at the right time, but MvdP is also in contention and after his week one performance at Le Tour it seems he is in a good place to take the gold. Schurter does not look like a likely contender at this point. Maybe we're lucky and Hatherly pulls of a good result to make the medals podium there too.

As for Lecomte, there is no denying her brilliance on the track and she seems likely to be teeing up a perfect season both at the world cup but also for olympic gold. Her post race interviews though...(I still struggle to get those giggles out of my head)...But it was nice to see Jenny Rissveds back in the mix again too and she is looking strong both mentally and physically. She is definitely a medal contender. PFP is not looking strong at the moment though and one hopes she is only preserving herself for the olympics.
 

nox1111

Jul 5, 2021, 6:33 AM

Wow, well done Alan!

DieselnDust

Jul 5, 2021, 8:54 AM

2 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Well done to Hatherly. It seems like the era of Schurter's dominance is coming to an end, and I will not at all be surprised if he hangs up his boots at the end of the season unless he walks away with gold at the Olympics. It will be interesting to see who is going to come out tops there. I am thinking that Flueckiger is peaking at the right time, but MvdP is also in contention and after his week one performance at Le Tour it seems he is in a good place to take the gold. Schurter does not look like a likely contender at this point. Maybe we're lucky and Hatherly pulls of a good result to make the medals podium there too.

As for Lecomte, there is no denying her brilliance on the track and she seems likely to be teeing up a perfect season both at the world cup but also for olympic gold. Her post race interviews though...(I still struggle to get those giggles out of my head)...But it was nice to see Jenny Rissveds back in the mix again too and she is looking strong both mentally and physically. She is definitely a medal contender. PFP is not looking strong at the moment though and one hopes she is only preserving herself for the olympics.
 

I'm very confident Alan can be on the podium in Tokyo. His trajectory toward the podium shows he is peaking around the right time and I reckon even a WC win by season end. He rode a superbly paced race yesterday. I think he was somewhat hampered by tyre choice. Fluckiger made a good choice with Dirty Dan while Cink's choice was a Hyperion 2.1 I'm told. Not sure hat Alan used but its didn't look like the Dirty Dan that Matthias was using. Could be he used the new Wicked Will

 

NickGM

Jul 5, 2021, 9:12 AM

5 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

I'm very confident Alan can be on the podium in Tokyo. His trajectory toward the podium shows he is peaking around the right time and I reckon even a WC win by season end. He rode a superbly paced race yesterday. I think he was somewhat hampered by tyre choice. Fluckiger made a good choice with Dirty Dan while Cink's choice was a Hyperion 2.1 I'm told. Not sure hat Alan used but its didn't look like the Dirty Dan that Matthias was using. 

 

I really hope so. He's had such an understated but steady rise to (almost) the top. Each year he seems to move up a couple of places on average. 

Mark James

Jul 5, 2021, 9:24 AM

Super stoked for Alan's 4th place, and he has been making solid improvements in each race this season, and peaking towards the Olympics. Definitely has a shot at the podium in Tokyo 

My dark horse pick for Tokyo though must be Cink, watch this space! 

DieselnDust

Jul 5, 2021, 9:28 AM

My dark horse pick for gold in Tokyo is Mathieu van der Poel.

its ok if you never heard of him. He rides all kinds of bikes and was recently spotted in the south of France dressed as a Canary

babse

Jul 5, 2021, 9:38 AM

7 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

My dark horse pick for gold in Tokyo is Mathieu van der Poel.

its ok if you never heard of him. He rides all kinds of bikes and was recently spotted in the south of France dressed as a Canary

not that dude that plans to compete in 17 different disciplines?

 

DieselnDust

Jul 5, 2021, 9:41 AM

2 minutes ago, babse said:

not that dude that plans to compete in 17 different disciplines?

 

Some say he trains in Crocs

Robbie Stewart

Jul 5, 2021, 9:48 AM

 

5 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Some say he trains in Crocs

I'm pretty sure he goes by the Strava name "Die Muishond"

OVERDRIVE

Jul 5, 2021, 7:12 PM

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kosmonooit

Jul 5, 2021, 7:58 PM

It was a good race with Sarrou. I think Alan is one of our best hopes for a medal in Tokyo

DieselnDust

Jul 5, 2021, 11:18 PM

He has been so consistent these last three years. Steadily moving forward.

TheoG

Jul 6, 2021, 8:52 AM

Well done Alan!  Also nice to see Nino on the podium again, hopefully he can get back to his best again soon.

vanniri

Jul 6, 2021, 8:54 AM

How times changed - two years ago the females was the most unpredictable and thus more exciting. Currently the men makes for the most exciting racing. 

Alan is peaking nicely and must be a medal contender. For obvious reasons he gets my support.

Nino will find it difficult but his ability to fight back is awesome to watch. Personally I would like him to exceed Absalon's record if only to draw a new line in the sand. Both of them are legendary and will take the current crop a few years of consistent performance to beat. 

AdamA

Jul 6, 2021, 12:19 PM

Well Done Alan!!! It looked Flippen Cold!

I was watching with my son (11yr) ... and every time the camera was on Alan, I would say 'That's Alan'... my son could not understand how I could make out Alan with all that mud when you couldn't see the SA Flag on his jersey. I then told him I was looking at the Lefty fork... and went into a discussion on Cannondale's Left suspension... Good Times... Thanks Alan!

Hairy

Jul 6, 2021, 12:54 PM

One of my favourite moments was when Rob noted the rider who was in front of Alan at the time "avoided the big jump on the left" due to the conditions and being dangerous ... then a second or two later Alan launches off the jump into the right hand berm face :) ... and he did this every lap!

Robbie Stewart

Jul 6, 2021, 1:03 PM

5 minutes ago, Hairy on a Davidson said:

One of my favourite moments was when Rob noted the rider who was in front of Alan at the time "avoided the big jump on the left" due to the conditions and being dangerous ... then a second or two later Alan launches off the jump into the right hand berm face :) ... and he did this every lap!

I also saw that and had a lekker chuckle. That rider avoiding the danger was non other than Jordan Sarrou, the current XCO World Champ...???? I'm pretty sure the previous World Champ would also have been sending those jumps.

DieselnDust

Jul 6, 2021, 7:27 PM

It was also cool to watch Alan do this little flick of the rear wheel when they reached this tight downhill left hander laced with roots. He looked most comfortable. Fluckiger looked like he was playing the Lotto every lap. His little tailish whips on the doubles looked they would go wrong everytime but somehow he kept it together. He just looks the most comfortable rider in the top 10 at the moment

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