South Africa’s Alan Hatherly has been on the rise in XCO racing this year, winning his first World Cup and taking the lead in the World Cup Series. He will start as one of the medal prospects in the Men’s Olympic race in Paris on Monday. Has he peaked perfectly to challenge for gold?
By Sean Badenhorst
Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock and Switzerland’s Nino Schurter weren’t on the start line in Les Gets where Alan Hatherly secured his first XCO World Cup win three weeks ago. And those are the two men that have been the most consistent rivals to Hatherly this year. Certainly, in the more recent World Cup rounds in Europe.
Hatherly was the dominant winner that day, a hugely welcome victory after four second places. It seemed as if even his rivals were stoked for the quiet South African. While Hatherly was savouring his finest moment as an Elite racer, Schurter was at an altitude training camp with the Swiss team and Pidcock was racing the Tour de France.
They’ll all be in Paris on Monday. Pidcock aiming to become the second man, after Juilen Absalon (2004 and 2008) to successfully defend the Olympic title and Hatherly eager to continue his Olympic Games progression – 26th in Rio and eighth in Tokyo – and carry his podium-topping confidence from his Cannondale Factory Racing kit to his national team strip.
With a full collection of Olympic medals (and a fourth place in Tokyo), Schurter has nothing left to prove. Well, other than to drive home his greatness. An Olympic gold medal would be the perfect bookend to the 37-year-old’s illustrious and lengthy career.
Pidcock dropped out of the Tour de France halfway through with illness. If it wasn’t serious then he’s likely perfectly primed for this race. The Brit is hard to beat in a XCO race, but the absence of a long climb on the 4.4km course means his climbing superiority will be slightly curbed. He must be considered the gold medal favourite though and, should he be 100% healthy, will be hard to beat.
There’s still a reasonably challenging 110m of ascent on the course, which has a series of punchy climbs as well as some flowline features to test skills. The pace at the head of the race will likely be relentless on the opening lap and those who start too fast will end up regretting that eagerness. Olympic Games participation only comes once or twice for most and they’re definitely going to be more hyped than normal. Schurter’s experience will surely be a factor as he measures his efforts wisely these days.
The weather is predicted to be dry and hot and that’s when Schurter is most content. Hey may not be the obvious gold medal contender, but after Pidcock, with his experience and recent form, he’s surely the next best.
Hatherly’s confidence after winning both the XCC and the XCO races in Les Gets must be at an all-time high. In the races against Pidcock this year, he finished 20th (that slip-fest session on the high-risk Crans Montana course) and 9th at Nove Mesto (with its long climb). Mud and long climbs are Pidcock’s bread and butter. There will be neither in Paris…
In those two races, Schurter was second at Nove Mesto and fourth at Crans Montana. In their other European clash this year, Schurter won and Hatherly was second at Val di Sole. Just seven seconds back.
In a relatively small field of 36, there are more than three men with medal-winning potential. France’s, Victor Koretzky, Switzerland’s Mathias Fluckiger, New Zealand’s, Sam Gaze, Denmark’s Simon Andreassen and the USA’s Christopher Blevins have all shown this year that they can battle for the win under pressure. Gaze and Koretzky in particular cannot be written off as gold-medal contenders. On a good day, they’re both formidable.
Obviously, we South Africans will be hoping everything falls in favour of Hatherly. He may not be the obvious gold-medal favourite, but he definitely has what it takes to win. On his way to winning at Les Gets less than three weeks ago, he took control early on and continued to open up his lead like a boss. It won’t be as simple as that in Paris, but we have to believe it’s possible.
The 2024 Men’s Olympic XCO race takes place on Monday, 29 July at 13h00. It will be televised live in South Africa on SuperSport.
Previous Olympic Games men’s medallists:
Tokyo 2020
Gold: Tom Pidcock (GBR)
Silver: Matthias Fluckiger (SUI)
Bronze: David Serano (ESP)
8th Alan Hatherly (RSA)
Rio 2016
Gold: Nino Schurter (SUI)
Silver: Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE)
Bronze: Carlos Coloma (ESP)
26th Alan Hatherly (RSA)
42nd James Reid (RSA)
London 2012
Gold: Jaroslav Kulhavy (CZE)
Silver: Nino Schurter (SUI)
Bronze: Marco Fontana (ITA)
5th: Burry Stander (RSA)
Beijing 2008
Gold: Julien Absalon (FRA)
Silver: Jean-Christophe Peroud (FRA)
Bronze: Nino Schurter (SUI)
15th Burry Stander (RSA)
Athens 2004
Gold: Julien Absalon (FRA)
Silver: Jose Hermida (ESP)
Bronze: Bart Brentjens (NED)
Sydney 2000
Gold: Miguel Martinez (FRA)
Silver: Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL)
Bronze: Christophe Sauser (SUI)
Atlanta 1996
Gold: Bart Brentjens (NED)
Silver: Thomas Frischknecht (SUI)
Bronze: Miguel Martinez (FRA)
