Hatherly's heroics the highlight
IT SEEMS there is nothing foolish about the cycling scene in April with non-stop action keeping us entertained and Team Spur’s Alan Hatherly added to it this week with a superb ride at the Gold Coast.
The talented youngster seems to be have been around for so long that it is hard to believe that he is just 22 years old.
For those that do not know, Hatherly finished third at the Commonwealth Games mountain bike race to earn a bronze medal.
The talented youngster, this country's top cross country rider, finished in a time of 1:17:56, just 20 seconds behind the dice for gold between the New Zealand duo of Sam Gaze (1:17:36) and Anton Cooper (1:17:36).
The result comes just two months after Hatherly fractured both wrists in a high speed crash at the three-day Tankwa Trek stage race.
After a flying start Gaze powered to the front and only Hatherly and fellow Kiwis Cooper and Ben Oliver able to keep pace, the field was blown to pieces and the stage set for an exhilarating battle for the medals.
By the end of Lap 3, Hatherly, Gaze and Cooper had burnt off Oliver who dangled in no-mans land for the remainder of the race to come home in fourth.
Cooper (in 2015) and Gaze (in 2017) are both past U23 World Champions and were also gold and silver medal winners at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, with Cooper having the edge on Gaze in a two-up sprint there.
There is however no love lost between the two Kiwis and after the finish it was obvious that the two New Zealand riders were not happy to share time in front of the photographers' lenses – despite the best efforts of the team media manager.
According to Hatherly it was super tactical right from the start gun, especially with the three Kiwis in the mix.
“I’m really happy with the result, considering eight weeks ago I suffered a broken radius and cracked wrist,” Hatherly commented after the race. “It went smoothly and I am happy to be on the podium.”
“I think it was around Lap 3 where I decided to put one big lap in to try split us up a bit more,” he said. It proved to be a decisive move and with two laps to go it was a threehorse race.
“That left Sam, Anton and I to eyeball each other throughout the rest of the race.
“I felt really good out there,” he added, explaining that the wrists which had their first race run at the second round of the South African XCO Cup less-then two weeks ago, held up well to the demands of worldclass racing.
The three riders jostled for position throughout the remainder of the race and it wasn't until the final lap where the racing exploded.
“Sam had a rear-wheel puncture and was forced to stop to re-inflate it. Anton took off immediately and it became one hot lap to finish it all off." said Alan.
Gaze was quick to hop back on the bike as he hunted down the leaders. As they made their way up the penultimate rocky climb, Alan showed his class as he made way for a charging Gaze and effectively settled for third.
"I started to feel the arms a bit at the end but it is expected after such a tough race. I am very happy to bring it home in third for South Africa.”
There was a bit of bumping between the two New Zealanders as Gaze went to the front just before the final descent and the powerful Gaze was probably the best rider on the day.
The field for the Commonwealth Games is obviously not as strong as for World Cups and other major international events, but I believe the three riders who fought it out for the title on Thursday morning represent the future of mountain biking – if the all remain focussed on off-road riding (there is talk of Gaze, who was second at the Cape Town Cycle Tour the day after he won the opening leg of the World Cup in Stellenbosch, switching to the road).
I think the idea of Gaze, Cooper, and Hatherly fighting Nino Schurter for the wins at international events is not too far fetched. Gaze is obviously already able to challenge Schurter, and Cooper and Hatherly are both young enough to improve and raise their game to those heady heights.
The cycling action at the Commonwealth Games wraps up today with the women's race probably already finished by the time you read this and the men's race is probably in progress (depending what time you have collected your newspaper) after starting at 4.30am (you can watch it on channel 213 on DStv).
But Hatherly's heroics were not the only thing to keep us occupied in April.
If you watched the Paris Roubaix you would have seen Peter Sagan pull off a daring long-range attack ad prove that he is good enough to be a mountain biker (just joking all you super-serious roadies).
Closer to home we have a weekend off and then the joBerg2c starts next Friday and on Sunday the second leg of the ROAG series kicks off with the Husqvarna Mid-Illovo Classic and then the Tour Durban wraps up the April action.