At the Les Gets World Cup, the South African squad turned a demanding weekend in the French Alps into a statement of resilience and ambition. From Friday’s short and explosive Short Track battles to Sunday’s endurance test in the Olympic-distance races, the team mixed podium-chasing intent with gritty survival in one of the sport’s toughest arenas. The results offered a balanced picture of promise, pressure and progress across elite and under 23 categories.
Hatherly turns consistency into authority
Alan Hatherly arrived in Les Gets with expectation on his shoulders, then rode with the calm of a rider who knows how to live with it. Fourth in the Short Track on Friday, he backed it up with fourth again in the Elite Men’s Olympic-distance race in 01:22:35, just 32 seconds off the win, a performance that underlined his place among the world’s best.
The detail matters in cross-country, and Hatherly delivered across both days, converting a back-row start on Friday into a surge through traffic and then holding fast in Sunday’s attritional test. The double top five, plus 150 UCI points from the Short Track, gives his season both momentum and validation, a blend every contender pursues but few sustain.
Candice Lill keeps the qualification mission on track
Candice Lill showed her trademark poise on Day 1 with ninth in the Elite Women’s Short Track, then absorbed the full weight of Sunday’s course to finish 29th in 01:20:46. It was a punishing race pace, with Jenny Rissveds of Sweden taking the win, and Lill still banked valuable UCI points as she continues her Olympic qualification campaign.
There is value in days that do not sparkle, and Lill found it. Ninth on Friday proved top ten speed, 29th on Sunday showed commitment to the long game, and together the results add up to the kind of consistency that counts when the season tightens.
Tyler Jacobs signals staying power in under 23 women
Tyler Jacobs was one of the early bright sparks of the weekend, riding to seventh in the U23 Women’s Short Track and showing she belongs in the heat of front-group battles. Two days later she turned that speed into staying power, finishing 14th in the Olympic-distance race for Liv Factory Racing in 01:11:37, a little over five minutes off the winning mark.
For an athlete still stacking international experience, that top 15 was an affirmation of trend. The Short Track showed sharpness, the XCO finish showed durability, and together they underline a trajectory that is edging upward with every start.
Ambrosi leads the under 23 men through a brutal test
Massimiliano Ambrosi handled the deep U23 Men’s field with intelligence and grit, taking 14th in 01:21:15, only 4 minutes and 21 seconds behind the winner. It was a strong response after finishing 21st in Friday’s Short Track, and it placed him as South Africa’s leading U23 man across the weekend.
Behind Ambrosi, Ernest Roets and Luca Ruwiel rode through a frantic tempo that splintered a 90-rider start list. Roets was classified 69th and Ruwiel 75th, both two laps down, results that reflect just how unforgiving the pace and the course at Les Gets can be when the leaders turn the screw.
Support acts that mattered in elite men
Hatherly may have hogged the spotlight, but the rest of the Elite Men’s contingent did their part in an unrelenting race. Luke Moir placed 39th in 01:27:49, an effort that required discipline as gaps opened and the lap traffic grew complicated through the final climbs and forest sections.
Johan van Zyl showed stubborn persistence to be classified 87th, four laps down by the finish. In a field where every mistake costs seconds and every climb feels steeper than the last, finishing days like this can deliver lessons that stick longer than the numbers suggest.
Day 1 set the tone with urgency and control
The opening day in Les Gets offered a window into the form that would carry through to Sunday. Hatherly’s Short Track fourth was a masterclass in measured aggression, closing to within four seconds of the win, while Candice Lill locked down ninth against a world-class field as the pace ebbed and flowed across nine laps.
In the U23 Short Track, Jacobs’ seventh was a marker, with time spent in the top three confirming her confidence and timing. Ambrosi’s 21st and Roets’ 32nd delivered important points and race rhythm, even as the intensity of the format exposed any hesitation in the middle laps.
Downhill qualifiers offer a steady start on a steep stage
South Africa’s downhillers opened their accounts with consistent runs on a track that punishes hesitation. Rory Kirk qualified 45th in the first session, then matched that again in the second, while Theo Erlangsen mirrored the same pattern in 57th, a pair of results that speak to steadiness on a steep and technical line.
In the Men’s Junior category, Pieter Venter rode to 56th in qualifying, a result built on determination through a course that challenged even the most experienced riders. With Saturday set aside for the finals, the groundwork from Friday positioned the gravity squad for honest attempts when it mattered most.
Why these results matter beyond the stopwatch
Results carry numbers, but they also carry meaning that echoes down a season. Hatherly’s double fourth tells the elite field that he can contend across formats in a single weekend, the kind of versatility that translates into overall series ambition, and confidence the next time the pace lifts late in the race.
Lill’s weekend, ninth then 29th, threads important UCI points into her qualification arc, and it reinforces her baseline in a field that is always searching for small edges. Jacobs and Ambrosi, meanwhile, left with proof that they can translate Short Track surges into XCO substance, the skillset that unlocks top tens when everything clicks.
The Les Gets canvas and the demands it imposes
Les Gets, set in the French Alps near the Swiss border, is a venue that tests every strand of a rider’s craft. The World Series schedule stacks Short Track, Olympic cross-country, and Downhill in close quarters, which means managing energy, executing starts, and learning a course that changes character with every lap.
The South African team, 12 riders across disciplines, navigated that tapestry with intent. From the explosive rhythm of Friday to the endurance grind of Sunday, the collective took steps forward, some big, some incremental, all of them necessary in a series where small gains compound over time.
Key results at a glance
- Elite Men’s XCO, Alan Hatherly 4th in 01:22:35, 32 seconds behind the winner,
- Elite Men’s XCO, Luke Moir 39th in 01:27:49,
- Elite Men’s XCO, Johan van Zyl 87th, four laps down.
- Elite Women’s XCO, Candice Lill 29th in 01:20:46, just under nine minutes behind winner Jenny Rissveds,
- U23 Women’s XCO, Tyler Jacobs 14th in 01:11:37,
- U23 Men’s XCO, Massimiliano Ambrosi 14th in 01:21:15, 4 minutes 21 seconds behind,
- U23 Men’s XCO, Ernest Roets 69th two laps down, and Luca Ruwiel 75th two laps down.
- Elite Men’s XCC, Alan Hatherly 4th and 150 UCI points,
- Elite Women’s XCC, Candice Lill 9th and 100 UCI points,
- U23 Women’s XCC, Tyler Jacobs 7th and 60 UCI points,
- U23 Men’s XCC, Massimiliano Ambrosi 21st and Ernest Roets 32nd.
- Downhill qualifying, Rory Kirk 45th in both sessions, Theo Erlangsen 57th in both sessions, Pieter Venter 56th in Junior qualifying.
Three themes that define the South African weekend
- This is how it’s done, elite presence at the sharp end with Hatherly’s double fourth that sets a higher bar for the season,
- This is how it’s done squared, development depth with Jacobs’ top seven in XCC and top 15 in XCO plus Ambrosi’s 14th in U23,
- This is how it’s done cubed, hard-earned lessons in the middle of the pack where Lill, Moir, Roets, Ruwiel and van Zyl faced the sport’s ruthless pace.
What comes next
Les Gets has a way of clarifying who is ready to climb and who needs another rung on the ladder. By that measure, South Africa’s weekend was both encouraging and instructive, with elite results that command respect and developmental rides that will age well as the season progresses.
The World Series will move on, but the imprint of these three days will linger, from Hatherly’s near-podium rhythm to the workmanlike points haul that keeps Lill’s goals in sight. In the end, the weekend belonged to effort, to consistency, and to the belief that tomorrow’s margins are built by today’s resolve.
