The final bouquet and the great moment of these VTT World Championships in Switzerland! On the Crans-Montana circuit this Sunday, the Elite Men Olympic event (XCO) concluded these two weeks of competition in style, with the presence at the start of Mathieu van der Poel as the main attraction. Starting in the 5th line on the starting grid, the Dutch man made a cannon start and illusions for two laps on the nine to go, going up for a while in 4th position … before paying his efforts and exploding on this traced too demanding for him, finishing 29th at more than 5 minutes. The battle for the rainbow jersey has summed up a single rider of the title holder Alan Hatherlywho signs a resounding double after his coronation at Pal Arinsal last year! He widely is ahead of the Italian surprising Simone Avondetto… and French Victor Koretzkywhich ended up to blow the bronze medal with Swiss runners.
Victor Koretzky in bronze after a last round of madness!
Yet little in view of mountain biking throughout this season (no podium) during which he tried on the road with the Team Jayco-AlUla, Alan Hatherly obviously perfectly prepared his business and came out of his box at the right time to get the supreme title again, imitating Swiss legend Nino Schurterthe last runner to have succeeded in retaining his world title. Taking the lead from the 2nd round, the 29-year-old South African dug after tour on his pursuers and had already almost raised won halfway through, more than a minute ahead of a resigned hunting group.
Far behind him, the fight for the podium was much more exciting and disputed, with six runners still in the running for the medals to the end. Among them, the world's vice-champion and Olympic of the discipline Victor Koretzky. Still 4th to a few seconds from the podium when the bell sounded, the Bitteréois lived a fairly crazy last round. First distant and not far from cracking, the double XCC world champion finally found a second breath and makes his explosiveness speak to return to the wire on the Swiss Luca Schätti et Mathias Flückigerbefore aligning them with the sprint! For his latest race on Worldwideand a few days to retire, the goat Nino Schurter took advantage of the atmosphere and the home party, with a 42nd place for the ten world champion.
The summary of the race
As always in mountain biking, the start is very important to avoid being slowed down or blocked in traffic during the first minutes of running. The double world short-track champion Victor Koretzky and the world cup leader Christopher Blevins (USA) go on the lead and impose their rhythm in this first circuit round, which they complete with a few seconds of margin on the rest of the pack. First blow for the French team, Mathis azzaro is the victim of a puncture when it was very well installed in the lead group and is pushed over 40 seconds. For his part, Mathieu van der Poel makes a canon departure. Yet left in 5th line and in 33rd position on the starting grid, the Dutchman makes the powder speak in the climbing games and performs a big raising, exceeding his competitors one by one to find himself (already) in 7th place after this first round!
In the 2nd round, Koretzky Make a small technical error and is forced to put foot on the ground in a climb, slightly blocking his pursuers … except the title holder Alan Hatherly ! The South African takes the opportunity to take the lead and accelerate seriously, passing on the line with 15 seconds of margin on a group of seven runners with in particular the Swiss Mathias FluckigerItalian Luca Braidot, MVDP, Koretzky et Blevins. The 3rd round sees Mathias Fluckiger Going alone in the leading man, with a gap held at 18 seconds between the two pilots. On the other hand, behind, we cannot keep the pace, with 45 “delay for a quartet with Koretzky… but without Van der Poelwho seems to pay his efforts from departure and retreats to 8th row, almost a minute from the head!
Hatherly untouchable, MVDP explodes, suspense for the podium
The half-race is then crossed, and the rider aloneHatherly continues! The world champion seems to fly to a second crown in a row, especially since his first pursuer Fluckiger cracks a little and gets caught up by a group of counter with Luca Schatti, Koretzky, Braidot et Simone Avondetto… which passes with 1'20 “late! For his part, MVDP completely explodes and leaves the top 10. The situation does not really evolve in the following towers, the advance ofHatherly Continuing to climb (1'40 “) while the pursuers are observed and sees the return of the Danish Simon Andreassen.
Fluckiger explodes this group in the penultimate lap, but everything is still possible when the bell sounds, with 6 runners in 20 seconds. Cooler in the final, Simone Avondetto pays the luxury of attacking and making the two Swiss crack at home. And these last two are not at the end of their sentence, since Koretzky returns from nowhere and catches up with them. And thanks to his incomparable finish, the Frenchman is tearing up to come and win bronze in the sprint, his 3rd career medal in this format after 2021 and 2024.
