The World Tour racing team Jayco-AlUla has officially announced the signing of Alan Hatherly. The 28-year-old Alan Hatherly has signed a two-year contract with the Australian team, which runs until the end of 2026.
I think now is the perfect time for me to get out of my comfort zone and develop further. Moving to a World Tour road team is obviously something completely new for me, it will be a steep learning curve and I will be learning from the best. - Alan Hatherly on the Jayco AlUla website
Alan Hatherly: On the road on road bike and mountain bike
The man from Durban wants to combine road and mountain bike competitions in 2025. "Of course, Hatherly is the current MTB world champion and will continue to focus on this area," explains Jayco team boss Brent Copeland.
The South African most recently secured the cross-country XCO title at the World Championships in Andorra in September and had previously won the Olympic mountain bike race bronze behind the British Thomas Pidcock and the Frenchman Victor Koretzky.
Hatherly now on Giant instead of Cannondale
Hatherly's signing with Jayco-AlUla, where three Germans - Max Walscheid, Jasha Sütterlin and Felix Engelhardt - will be riding next year, also means a change of equipment. As the Australian team has opted for Giant racing bikes the newcomer will also ride an MTB of this brand for the Giant Factory Racing Team in future - until now he was with the Cannondale Factory Racing Team.
Hatherly was already increasingly active on the road in 2023 and 2024. His best results include two second places in the South African time trial championships and overall victory in the Tour du Cap, a five-day tour in his home country.
Pidcock, van der Poel, Ferrand-Prevot - travelling in both disciplines
The 28-year-old is not the first cycling star to try his hand across disciplines. In the World Tour peloton, he will be up against Olympic champion Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who recently hinted at returning to the MTB circuit in 2025.
In the women's category, Puck Pieterse has successfully shown how the balancing act between MTB and road can be achieved this year with the World Championship title in cross-country and a stage win at the Tour de France Femmes. In addition, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris MTB Olympic champion, is switching back to the road with Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The Frenchwoman has set herself an ambitious goal: to win the women's Tour de France.
