One man who has beaten the likes of Tom Pidcock is Alan Hatherly. At the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Andorra, Hatherly rode to a rainbow jersey, putting 39 seconds into the then-Ineos rider, who earned a bronze medal.
Now, Hatherly is trying his luck in the WorldTour peloton with Team Jayco-AlUla. From Cadel Evans to Puck Pieterse, it’s not uncommon for mountain bikers to switch to the pavement or switch between disciplines —just last week, Mathieu van der Poel announced he’ll skip road worlds this season in favour of trying his luck in cross-country mountain biking again. But a new crop of mountain bikers —Hatherly, in addition to names like Laura Stigger (SD Worx Protime) and Mona Mitterwallner (Human Powered Health)— are targeting the paved pastures this year in addition to the trails. But how will they fare? Are the strengths of mountain bikers comparable to that of a road specialist?
In Hatherly’s case, we already have early-season racing to examine. On Stage 2 of the AlUla Tour, the South African finished third, 7 seconds back from stage winner Pidcock on a hilltop finish. He placed second, again to Pidock, on Stage 4, which featured a significant climb before a downhill finish. However, he slipped back to 6th place in GC following a windy flat final stage.
The stage results show that Hatherly can hold his own against the likes of Pidcock during races with punchy uphill finishes. How the 62 kg rider will fare on longer climbs has yet to be seen. We’re also curious about his time-trialling ability since cross-country mountain bike events often turn into ITT-esque efforts once rivals are shed.
Mountain bikers are naturally good at punchy climbs since cross-country courses are littered with steep climbs that are rarely more than a few minutes in length. They also need a strong kick to get off the start line and into position and in case they come to the finish in a small group.
SD Worx’s new recruit Laura Stigger is a great example. Last fall, the World Cup round in Lake Placid, New York, featured a fast and tactical course, with large groups of riders staying together throughout the race. The final lap was a four-woman battle, with Stigger eventually outkicking her Specialized teammate, Sina Frei, to the line.
Stigger won the junior road race at the 2018 World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, but she doesn’t have much road experience beyond that.
“[On the road] I think I am more of a puncher type, although I have yet to discover that myself,” Stigger said in a team press release. “I first came into contact with road cycling at the 2018 world championships in Innsbruck. I am from that region and those around me suggested I should try to qualify. That succeeded and I also ended up winning the world title in my home city. Totally unexpected. A wonderful memory.”
The Austrian said her original plan was to continue mountain biking after the 2018 race, but around the same time, she met Anna van der Breggen, who encouraged her to explore racing on the road. A few years later, the two are teammates in the peloton.
“I think my [bike handling] skills from mountain biking will come in handy,” Stigger said “I hope to make important strides in both road cycling and mountain biking by combining both disciplines.”
Twenty-three-year-old Mona Mitterwallner also has limited experience on the road, but in the dirt, the mountain biker has won two elite World Cups and is a double World Champion in the longer Marathon MTB discipline.
Naturally, Mitterwallner is looking forward to using her climbing abilities on the road and also said she is looking forward to stage racing.
“I wanted a new challenge and to develop myself,” Mitterwallner said. “I love climbing. In MTB, you’re climbing for two or three minutes, but in road racing, you do it for over an hour. That’s something I want to try, and I think I will be good at.”
The Austrian also mentioned that Puck Pieterse’s success across disciplines motivated her to race both disciplines this year. Interestingly, she will race for Mondraker in the dirt instead of HPH’s sponsor, Factor Bikes.
Another mountain biker hiding in the road peloton this season is Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Adrian Boichis. He raced some lower-level stage races in 2022 and 2023 with Trinity Racing, but only competed in MTB in 2024.
Little has been announced about these racers’ calendars, but Jayco confirmed that Hatherly will race Ruta del Sol before tackling a mix of WorldTour and other races this spring. Stigger will start her season this weekend at Setmana Valenciana. All of the riders mentioned plan to mix in mountain biking as well.
Until then, these riders offer an intriguing storyline to follow this season.
