The Jayco AlUla surprised his fans this Thursday by announcing the recruitment of the mountain bike world champion, Alan Hatherly. After achieving an incredible victory at the MTB Cross Country World Championships in September, and being crowned winner of the 2024 Cross Country World Cup, Alan Hatherly was in high demand and it the team Jayco AlUla who enlisted the South African for two years. At 28, the runner wants to turn to the road and is expected to combine mountain biking and road racing in 2025, a transition that only a few men have managed to achieve.
Video – Hatherly finished 3rd at the Olympics, beaten by Koretzky and Pidcock
Hatherly: “The perfect time to step out of my comfort zone”
“I am extremely excited about this new chapter in my Cycling career and very grateful for the opportunity to ride for Jayco AlUla for the next two seasons. I think this is the perfect time to step out of my comfort zone and develop even more. Moving to a WorldTour road team is of course something completely new for me, it will be a steep learning curve and I will learn from the best. Combining road and mountain biking is new and refreshing and I’m really looking forward to seeing where this journey can take me!” declared the mountain bike world champion.
Brent Copelandgeneral director of training Jayco AlUlaexpressed himself: “Alan has clearly made a breakthrough in the discipline of mountain biking, and it shows that he still has a lot to give. We are thrilled to be able to work with such a talented rider and believe that our strong support network within the WorldTeam is something that Hatherly will greatly benefit from. He has a lot of talent and clearly a lot of potential and we think he can go far down the road. Of course, Hatherly is the current mountain bike world champion and will continue to focus on this area, thanks to the support of Giant. We hope that together we can achieve great things in mountain biking and on the road.”
