New challenger! After Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, also Marathon MTB World champion sets out in search of glory on road in 2025: "I want to be the best in the world"
Cycling
Following the example of XCO Olympic Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, another top-tier mountain-biker Mona Mitterwallner will transition to road in 2025. Despite being only 22-year-old, Mitterwallner is already a three-time world champion in marathon mountain biking, showcasing her ability to perform in long races with plenty of climbing. Next year, the Austrian will make a professional road debut with Human Powered Health.
"I want to be the best in the world, so I've always said that the road is going to be part of my future. That's always been on the radar. After the Games I wanted to try something new and get out of my routine, so I'm curious to see how much I can improve as a rider. I needed a new challenge," says Mitterwallner, who believes that she can become a top climber in a press release from her new team.
"On a mountain bike you climb for two or three minutes, but on the road it can easily be longer than an hour. I want to try that and I think I can be good at it too. I am used to going over my limit, but hopefully that is also something I can do in longer races. I also have good cycling skills from mountain biking, so I hope I will be among the ten percent in the descents. And I am explosive," she describes herself as a road cyclist for Human Powered Health.
"I'm really looking forward to the multi-day races. I'm good at repeated efforts over several days, but that's not something you see a lot in mountain biking. Racing full throttle for a week is something really cool and I want to see if I really recover as quickly as I think," says Mitterwallner, who as a young girl also did volleyball, hockey, ballet breakdance and is now a DJ in addition to cycling.
"We are very happy with her arrival for her debut season on the road. Her great results in mountain biking show how incredibly talented and determined she is," says Ro De Jonckere, the manager of the team. "That she has achieved so much at her age in one of the most demanding disciplines shows her strength and perseverance," he continues. "We are very much looking forward to supporting her in her transition to the road and are confident that with her mentality and versatility she will be able to cope well in the peloton."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- What a race! I didn't expect Vanthourenhout to collapse like that, and Wyseure did take the fight to Nys, but there was no doubt at the end. I also wonder what Aubin Sparfel would be capable of were he to race in the elites now. In the U23 ranks he is making good work of Giel Lejeune, who himself is among the better riders in the elites, and a top 10 contender in the big races (3rd at Kleebergcross, 8th at Berencross and 5th at Heerderstrand). In the French Cup, Sparfel is significantly better than Romain Debord (8th at Koppenbergcross and 10th at the Euros) and Rémi Lelandais (12th at Koppenbergcross and 19th at the Euros).
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling forRafionain-Glas08-11-2026
- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
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