The final day of the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships saw Women and Men Elite and Under 23 cross-country Olympic (XCO) finals. Puck Pieterse (Netherlands) and Alan Hatherly (South Africa) won their first Elite titles. Isabella Holmgren (Canada) and Luca Martin (France) won the Under 23 titles - Holmgren doubling up after winning the cross-country short track (XCC) title.
With warnings of an approaching storm, the decision was made to run the two men’s finals early and race the Women Elite and Women Under 23 simultaneously, most reduced by 1 lap. All were completed in good weather and safe conditions.
WOMEN ELITE: PIETERSE POWERS TO THE WIN
Of the 60 riders, it was a strong start for Puck Pieterse, Alessandra Keller (Switzerland), Candice Lill (South Africa) and the USA’s Savilia Blunk and Hayley Batten, along with 2023 UCI World Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (France).
Evie Richards (Great Britain), winner of the XCC UCI world title, crashed on the first passage through the rock section.
Ferrand-Prévot dropped back as Blunk also faded. Pieterse fended off a challenge from Lill on lap 3, as the two went 30-seconds clear. Ultimately the 22-year-old Dutch woman went alone out front.
On the penultimate lap, Lill slid coming into the tech zone and a chasing Anne Terpstra closed in and passed her for a provisional Dutch 1-2. Loana Lecomte (France) was in fourth, followed by Martina Berta (Italy), and Richards.
Lill and Terpstra traded places on the final lap as Berta moved away from Lecomte and survived a scare in the final rock garden, reeling in Lill to take third.
Ferrand-Prévot came in 14th, signing off from mountain biking to head for road racing.
“I cannot comprehend it yet!” said Pieterse. “I rode my own pace from the start. I thought I need to go all-in if I want to win this. And I kept pushing and apparently it was enough. I have my first Elite UCI World title and I’m just so happy.”
- Puck Pieterse (Netherlands), 1.09:41
- Anne Terpstra (Netherlands), +0:59
- Martina Berta (Italy), +1:19.
MEN ELITE: HATHERLY HAS THE POWER
The early pace came from newly crowned XCC UCI World Champion Victor Koretzky (France) and bronze medalist Alan Hatherly (South Africa), along with Frenchman Jordan Sarrou, Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland) and Luca Schwarzbauer (Germany).
Even at six laps it was a race of attrition, with gaps stretching out throughout the field and stars such as Nino Schurter (Switzerland), Christopher Blevins (USA) and Sam Gaze (New Zealand) outside of the top ten.
Onto the penultimate lap, Hatherly and Koretzky – Olympic silver medalist – were seven seconds ahead of two Britons: Olympic Champion Tom Pidcock and Charlie Aldridge. Mathis Azzaro (France) and Luca Braidot (Italy) were the only other riders within 30 seconds of the leaders.
The Frenchman attacked on the last long climb, and the South African matched him, then went past and never looked back. Hatherly – after bronze in the XCC, and winning the most recent UCI World Cup round at Les Gets, Haute-Savoie, France as part of the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series– was on fire. He adds the 2024 XCO rainbow jersey to his 2018 Under-23 XCO and 2019 E-MTB cross-country (E-MTB) titles.
- Alan Hatherly (RSA), 1.09:51
- Victor Koretzky (FRA), +0:22
- Tom Pidcock (GBR), +0:39
“I’m really emotional to be honest. I knew I had good legs but to be able to win like that is a dream come true,” said Hatherly. “Those bands are going to stay on my arm forever and I’m looking forward to wearing them for the rest of the season and next season for sure.”
WOMEN UNDER 23: HOLMGREN’S DOUBLE
With the Women Under 23 and Elite races held simultaneously, the 48 U23s got the chance to mix it with the established stars.
Strong starts from Isabella Holmgren (Canada) and Olivia Onesti (France) saw them swapping the lead over the first two laps, with USA’s Madigan Munro in contention up to half distance and Italy’s Valentina Corvi in third until being passed by another Canadian, Emilly Johnston on lap 3 of 5.
But it was Isabella Holmgren – winner of the Under 23 XCC title earlier this week, with her twin Ava joining her on the podium – who was in a class of her own, and secured the double.
On the final lap, the 19-year-old passed Elite stars such as Evie Richards, and Loana Lecomte before crossing the line more than a minute ahead of anyone else in her category.
- Isabella Holmgren (CAN), 1.11.12
- Olivia Onesti (FRA), +1:17
- Emilly Johnston (CAN), +2:31
MEN UNDER 23: MARTIN SHINES BRIGHTEST
The Men Under 23 had an early start in the morning Andorran sunshine, and it was bright starts for Dario Lillo (Switzerland), Luca Martin (France), America’s Bjorn Riley and Denmark’s Tobias Lillelund (the latter two were second and third respectively in Friday’s Under 23 XCC).
From lap two of five, Riley started to fade, and Lillo and Martin were swapping the lead as Lillelund held third position and Luke Wiedmann (Switzerland) pushed into fourth ahead of Riley.
But it was the 22-year-old Frenchman who was strongest, pulling out an advantage over Lillo in the second half of the race and the only man to finish under 1 hour.
- Luca Martin (FRA), 59:48
- Dario Lillo (SUI), +0:21
- Tobias Lillelund (DEN), +0:52.
