Britain’s Tom Pidcock was unable to retain his UCI MTB World Championships cross-country title, taking bronze as South Africa’s Alan Hatherly claimed gold in Andorra.

Hatherly, 28, who was third behind Olympic champion Pidcock and Victor Koretzky in Paris, led from the fourth lap and held off the Frenchman to win by 22 seconds.

Pidcock came home 17 seconds later to complete the podium.

The World Championships programme was altered on the final day of competition with a heavy thunderstorm forecast on Sunday afternoon.

All races were shortened and brought forward with the men racing six laps of a hilly, high-altitude course, rather than the planned seven, and the women five rather than six.

The Netherlands’ Puck Pieterse claimed a deserved rainbow jersey in the elite women’s race, with compatriot Anne Terpstra second, 59 seconds back.

Italy’s Martina Berta rounded off the podium with British rider Evie Richards in sixth, almost two minutes back after struggling to regain her position following an early crash.

French veteran and Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot finished 14th in the final mountain bike race of her career.