Alan Hatherly Wins Lenzerheide XCO World Cup on Prototype Giant Anthem 

Alan Hatherly, racing for the Giant Factory Off Road Team, capped his World Cup season with a career-defining win at the Lenzerheide XCO World Cup, finally claiming victory at the Swiss venue where he won the under-23 world title in 2018 and twice finished runner-up as an elite. Hatherly started from the second row and fought through a chaotic opening lap to latch onto the leaders. On lap three of eight, the newly crowned world champion launched a perfectly timed attack, riding clear of the front group and steadily extending his lead. 

Drama struck on the final lap when Hatherly dropped his chain twice, including in the final few hundred meters, but his composure and sizeable gap kept him safely ahead. He crossed the line 32 seconds clear of Britain’s Charlie Aldridge in 1:20:23, with teammate Dario Lillo finishing 18th. 

Hatherly rode to victory on the new Prototype Giant Anthem which we’ve been seeing here and there in XC events this season. Details for this release are still under wraps, but we can expect more details soon. For now, the biggest differences from the old Anthem model are a completely redesigned frame with a wildly different rear shock setup that hasn’t been seen in the Anthem model since its release. Giant has historically embraced their Maestro system with the shock mounted parallel to the seat tube and a rocker connecting it to the seat stays, however, this new prototype follows the current XC trend of a shock mounted directly to the bottom of the top tube. In addition to this, the frame sports internal headset routing, in increased 120mm rear travel capacity, and a flip chip to adjust bottom bracket height. Hatherly’s setup was sporting Giant XCR 1 30 Carbon wheels, Maxxis Aspen Tyres, some colour matched 1 piece carbon bars, and Shimano’s latest XTR DI2 groupset offering. Safe to say, we’re keen to see the full release details of this new model!

A true multidisciplinary rider, Hatherly spoke on the challenges of racing both road and XC having this to say after the victory: "It took quite a bit to transition across to the mountain bike, but I’m really happy that it came at the perfect time of the year. To get the rainbow jersey last week and to do it justice this weekend, this is really special. And yeah, unfortunately, this is my last World Cup of the season, but to go out on a high is enough for me.”