INTERVIEW | MTB World Champion Alan Hatherly on Tom Pidcock and World Tour debut goals - "At the minute it's the one-week tours"

Alan Hatherly is a well known name for those who follow Mountain Biking. Winner of the World Championships and XCO World Cup this year, he now makes the switch onto the road with Team Jayco AlUla where he will combined the two disciplines at the top level. He's talked to CyclingUpToDate about his plans, ambitions and Tom Pidcock who's in a similar situation.

Hatherly will be starting his season at the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia, a big goal for the team where Eddie Dunbar will be leading the GC ambitions - the Irishman revealed to our microphone himself. It will be an exciting moment for the 28-year old who raced for EF Education-EasyPost's development teams over the past few years. The Australian team were interested in him and liked the power numbers he had shown, and took the bet.

Hatherly is focusing on the 2028 Olympic Games where he will try to go for the gold medal at the Mountain Bike race. He was third this year, but later on he did beat Tom Pidcock including the World Championships in Andorra where he lives - although he admits that he's currently looking for another 'base' to live in until April comes along and the warmer conditions return to the European micronation.

His big goals on the road will be stage-races, as he believes his best efforts are climbs of up to 15 minutes. "At the minute it's the one-week tours," he responded regarding the races where he may perform the best. "Obviously I don't know how I'll perform in a Grand Tour, it's not in my plan for this year but Romandie, Tour de Suisse, Paris-Nice, Dauphiné are really nice ones for me to try and show myself. I think Strade Bianche could be really cool, with a lot of gravel I'll be more relaxed potentially then others in that kind of environment so it will be a cool one to test," he adds.

However the Gravel World Championships are unlikely to be a goal, as he focuses on having a successful transition to the road. "Transitioning from the mountain bike to the road is more than enough for me. Shifting to the gravel is just as much challenge as the road does for me, it's a different world and the guys are really focused and specialized. You can see it by the way they race, there's a lot of thought and preparation towards that kind of racing so it won't be as easy to jump on a gravel bike and smash it I would imagine. For sure it's not a bad idea but those guys have proven they have massive engines so if I can get there and show myself as the same level then sure, but that'll be hard".

The South African rider will have a short stint on the road, but likely packed with several races where he will look to gain experience, improve his positioning skills and also support his teammates. "Provisionally the plan will be full gas road from January to May, and then from May onwards I'll make the transition to Mountain Biking, six World Cups and the World Championships," he shares.

We asked the MTB headliner regarding Tom Pidcock who also combined the two disciplines quite successfully and has recently made a huge transfer to Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team: "I can't really say too much on what he's doing, none of my business," he jokes. "It's curious to move from a World Tour team to a [pro] continental team I hope for his sake that he gets invited to some nice events and that he has some nice opportunities".