![\"UCI](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/UCI-XCO-Worlds-start-.png\")
<\/a>Credit: UCI Media<\/p>\nCrans-Montana delivered pure XCO racing: heat, altitude, and a course that punished mistakes and rewarded strength. At the end of the day, Alan Hatherly (Giant Factory Off-Road Team) and Jenny Rissveds (Canyon CLLCTV XCO) came away with the rainbow jerseys, but their paths to victory couldn\u2019t have been more different.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s Elite XCO World Championship<\/p>\n Alan Hatherly entered Crans-Montana as the defending champion, but his performances have been anything but consistent. Alan barely cracked the top ten in the World Cup until his last XCO (Haute-Savoie) with a year\u2019s best fourth place. However, that didn\u2019t stop him from going from the gun on Sunday. Victor Koretzky (France) attempted to set a fast pace early. At about lap two of nine, Koretzky made a move, but Hatherly stayed glued to his wheel. Then came the moment: a firm surge after a technical descent on lap two let Hatherly slip free, and he didn\u2019t look back.<\/p>\n Over the remaining seven laps, he rode with surgical precision\u2014judging climbs, linking the flats, and letting no one catch him. Simone Avondetto (Wilier-Vittoria Factory Team) surged late to grab silver, closing down time on the final climbs, while Koretzky (France) managed enough damage control to secure bronze.\u00a0<\/p>\n What stood out was Hatherly\u2019s mastery of pacing under pressure. He knew when to push, when to throttle, and when to hammer, especially given how lapped traffic and technical rock gardens punished hesitation. When he crossed the finish line, he had enough in the tank that he appeared too composed. Casually getting off his prototype Giant Anthem<\/a> and raising it above his head in triumph. <\/p>\n Where Was MVDP?<\/p>\n Mathieu van der Poel showed flashes of his usual brilliance early, clawing his way from a poor starting position up into the front group in the opening laps. By lap one or two, he was already riding in the top ten and matching surges. But that forward investment came with a cost. As the race dug in, he began to fade. Lap after lap, terrain, fatigue, and the relentless pace pulled him down through the field until he crossed the line in 29th place, over five minutes behind Alan Hatherly\u2019s dominant showing. <\/p>\n Nino\u2019s Last Ride: A Legend Bowing Out With Class<\/p>\n Nino Schurter, mountain biking\u2019s GOAT, made one more lap at the 2025 World Championships in Crans-Montana. This time, not as a contender for the win, but as a farewell tour that felt less like an exit and more like a celebration. The Scott-SRAM veteran, who\u2019s woven his identity into nearly every switchback, rock garden, and podium since 2009, placed 42nd, well back of the sharp end, yet every turn was met with a roar from the Swiss crowd. It wasn\u2019t about the result; it was about presence, legacy, and memory. Crans-Montana marked his final world championship. Next week in Lenzerheide, on home soil and at his favourite World Cup, he\u2019ll take his final competitive bow. The finish line isn\u2019t just an ending; it\u2019s the perfect feat of a career few will ever match.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s Elite XCO World Championship<\/p>\n Jenny Rissveds showed up not just with legs, but with strategy. Since her return to top competition, there\u2019ve been whispers of what she might do at Worlds, but until now, none quite so definitive. Rissved dominated this season, and the pack knows that if Jenny gets away early, they\u2019ll be racing for second \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly what happened. Starting smart, she stayed tucked in behind early leaders like Samara Maxwell (New Zealand) and Alessandra Keller (Switzerland, Th\u00f6mus Maxon) while the pace swung wide in the opening laps.<\/p>\n By lap three or four, after a series of tempo changes, Rissveds made her move: pushing hard up a climb, creating separation with Maxwell. Keller, despite a crash earlier that cost precious seconds, clawed back (in true Keller style), but Rissveds had already picked her line and her moment. In the final laps, she extended her gap, riding solo with confidence through the rock and root-strewn transitions Crans-Montana is famous (or infamous) for. <\/p>\n Sammie Maxwell \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddff breaks ahead of Alessandra Keller!<\/p>\n She is on the charge now \u26a1\ufe0f as she closes a few seconds on Jenny Rissveds, +0:14s ahead. <\/p>\n The Swedish rider is still looking unbeatable out there though, riding her own race at the front! #Valais2025<\/a> #CransMontana<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/oUQdCUE1PN<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 UCI MTB (@UCI_MTB) September 13, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Maxwell held on for silver, visibly fighting the steep and the technical; Keller, despite dust, mistakes, and recovery after the crash, won bronze. For Rissveds, this isn\u2019t just gold, it\u2019s vindication. After years of chasing and battling setbacks, she finally secured the world title she had been building toward.<\/p>\n How\u2019d the Americans Stack Up?<\/p>\n Team USA came into the XCO world champs with solid expectations, and for the most part, they delivered in spades, even if the top step eluded them in XCO. In the Elite Women\u2019s race, Savilia Blunk broke into the top five, and Vida Lopez de San Roman made waves in U23, showing that the next generation isn\u2019t far off from contesting podiums. The Team Relay saw the U.S. squad finish a respectable sixth. There were no catastrophes, no major DNFs, just performances that quietly suggest U.S. mountain biking is building toward more. Swenson and Courtney both snatched gold in the Marathon XCM races a week before, which only adds to the sense that American MTB is trending upward across disciplines.<\/p>\n What\u2019s Next? <\/p>\n As the leaves start to turn and the seasons shift, the 2025 UCI XCO World Cup still has a handful of marquee stopovers left, with a lot of action still to unfold. After the recent rounds, athletes are headed next to Lenzerheide, Switzerland (18-21 September), followed by Lake Placid, New York, USA (3-5 October), and finally the iconic Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada (9-12 October) to close out the series. These last events carry weight, not just for individual race wins, but for overall standings, national rankings, and rider legacies (don\u2019t forget the wild ard teams). <\/a>Lenzerheide and Mont-Sainte-Anne, in particular, are places where legends are made: technical terrain, steep climbs, and unpredictable weather \u2013 everything XCO thrives on. <\/p>\n<\/a>Credit: UCI Media<\/p>\n<\/a>Credit: UCI Media<\/p>\n