Alan Hatherly retained his Cross-country Olympic (XCO) title in style at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on Sunday (14 September 2025).
The South African, who took bronze at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, moved to the head of affairs on lap two of nine and steadily moved clear. He won by 48 seconds, with Simone Avondetto taking silver ahead of Tuesday’s short track winner Victor Koretzky.
Mathieu van der Poel was in contention early on but finished 29th, while 10-time victor Nino Schurter – in his last World Championships – crossed the line down in 42nd.
Koretzky and Christopher Blevins led the field at the end of the first lap. Having started from 33rd on the grid, Van der Poel was up to seventh and in touch.
Then Hatherly made his solo attack, winding up the pace at the front. Mathias Flückiger led a chase group of seven, but the 29-year-old from Durban kept extending his advantage.
On lap three, Van der Poel started to toil as he perhaps paid for his first-lap exertions. The Dutchman soon lost touch with the chasers and started to slip down the field.
Several riders encountered trouble on the exposed tree root section which was slippery after earlier rain and several days of racing. But Hatherly opened up a gap of over 90 seconds over his rivals before coming home leisurely in glorious isolation for a famous repeat triumph.
Flückiger pushed the pace in the chase group with Avondetto the only man who could stay with him. On the final lap, Luca Schatti joined the pair before Avondetto attacked decisively on the final climb to take silver. Koretzky was on the charge behind, and he beat the two Swiss in a final sprint to take bronze.