Alessandra Keller (Thömus Maxon) of Switzerland and South Africa’s Alan Hatherly (Cannondale Factory Racing) won the cross-country short track races at the WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series stop on Friday in Les Gets, France. This is the third year MTB World Cup races have been held in the French Alps.
Keller, the overall leader in the MTB World Cup XCC and XCO standings, held off top rival Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) by four seconds for her second short track victory of the season. Rebecca Henderson (Primaflor Mondraker Racing) finished another two seconds down, going clear of Evie Richards (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) to take third.
“As World Cup leader, the pressure is always on my shoulders. After Puck Pieterse pulled away, I wanted to concentrate on second place. But on the second-last lap, I realized that it could be close again,” Keller said in a team statement.
Pieterse had a 10-second gap over the trio of Keller, Henderson and Richards before they all regrouped for the final lap. That is where Keller accelerated for the victory, keeping Pieterse from winning her third consecutive XCC contest.
“I attacked as fast as I could in the tech zone and pulled away decisively,” she said about the decisive move on the last lap. “To win in the leader's jersey and with the number 1 is brilliant.”
In the men’s XCC contest, Hatherly made his second podium in the series count with his first victory. Charlie Aldridge (Cannondale Factory Racing) surprised the field with his best finish of the season, sprinting to the line to take second place ahead of new XCC series leader Samuel Gaze (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Luca Schwarzbauer (Canyon CLLCTV XCO), who is fourth in the XCC standings, finished fourth in Les Gets.
Gaze made the biggest charge on the day, slipping in the wet grass on the first lap and taking a fall. The UCI World Champion worked his way from the back of the field into the top 20 by the mid-point of the race, while Schwarzbauer set the pace with Litscher, Hatherly, Aldridge and Martín Vidaurre (Specialized Factory Racing). Filippo Colombo (Scott-Sram MTB Racing Team) and Chris Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) soon made it seven riders at the front.
By the ninth lap, Aldridge rode on Schwarzbauer’s back wheel and Gaze was now in sixth position, and Aldridge hit the gas when the bell rang for the final circuit. Only Hatherly could go with him.
“It’s been a long time coming and I’m super happy that it paid off today,” said Hatherly after the race. His last short-track victory came in Brazil in 2022.
“I had the confidence to make it hard before the last lap to take the edge off the guys. I kept something in the tank to give it that final squeeze.”
The cross-country Olympic races will be held in Les Gets on Sunday. Then, the UCI MTB World Series for cross-country events take a break until August 28-September 1 in Andorra, with a pause for the Paris Olympic Games.
