For the first time since 1991, an American male has won the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Overall Title. Now, the last two American male overall winners have been from Durango.
Durango’s Christopher Blevins wrapped up his overall title in Lake Placid, New York, on Sunday with his win in the men’s elite cross-country Olympic (XCO) mountain bike race. It’s Blevins’ first overall World Cup title win and the first for an American male since John Tomac in 1991.
“I’m looking back with a lot of gratitude,” Blevins said. “I have appreciation for all the work that went into it. The fact that I did it, I was able to pull it off and really the whole team, my Specialized team, and then the inner team back home that believed in me and helped me the whole time.”
To add to the phenomenal round in Lake Placid, Blevins also won the men’s elite cross-country short track (XCC) race on Friday.
The 27-year-old wrapped up the men’s World Cup overall title in the ninth round of the season with only one round to go in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, this weekend. Blevins has won six of the nine men’s elite XCC races this year and three of the nine men’s elite XCO races. He’s won both races in the same weekend three times this season.
On Friday, Blevins won the men’s elite XCC race in 21 minutes and 37 seconds after 10 laps around the 1.1-kilometer short track circuit. Behind him was his Specialized Factory Racing teammate Adrien Boichis in second in 21:37 and Mathis Azzaro finished third in 21:38.
Blevins had a good start and was second at the start of the second lap. He took the lead in the second, third and fourth laps as the riders didn’t push too hard.
The Durangoan led throughout most of the next five laps as the riders made their way to the final lap.
“It definitely was a new strategy to take it on fully from the front like that,” Blevins said. “It just felt right and instinctual. You stay out of danger, especially on those corners … So it’s been kind of an intentional shift with how I approach it. I knew that if I kept it in control and slowed it down in certain times from the front, that I'd have good legs for the finish.”
Boichis made the first attack and led early in the final lap. Blevins slotted into second and kept himself right behind Boichis heading into the sprint. He knew Boichis would attack and Blevins knew it was a long sprint so he held onto Boichis’ wheel for the first part of the sprint.
Blevins then attacked on the right side and used all of his power to cross the finish line in first.
On Saturday, Blevins won his first men’s elite XCO race since Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic, in May. He came in first in 1:19:54 after the 2-kilometer start loop and eight laps around the 3.9-kilometer course. Boichis was second in 1:19:54 and Azzaro was third in 1:19:56.
Blevins knew he needed to stay with the process and that there’d be natural fluctuations in his performance. He knew he couldn’t win every race as there are times when his legs weren’t there, or he was a little sick competing against the best mountain bikers in the world.
He and his team had the goal of having two peaks to the World Cup season. The first was around Nové Město na Moravě and the second was around Lenzerheide, Switzerland, (Sept. 18-21) and the Lake Placid round.
Blevins had a good start to his XCO race, avoided any drama and was leading at the start of the first lap after the start loop. He crossed the finish line to start the third lap still as the leader, but dropped back toward the back of the top five. He was lead group as the group was cut from about 20 to five at the start of the fourth lap.
“I definitely love it; I'll always prefer the group races,” Blevins said. “It plays into my strengths a lot and I knew that this race would be like that … you can be a little bit more tactical with your efforts … So this was the best course maybe all season for me.”
At the beginning of the fifth lap, Blevins made a move to the front to push the pace as the chase group looked like it was bridging the gap to the leaders.
Blevins briefly dropped back to second in the seventh lap as the lead group was cut down to five. However, he was right back onto the front going into the single track.
The Durangoan lost the lead early in the last lap but quickly regained control. Boichis caught Blevins with an attack into the single track. But, Blevins knew it was coming and said he would’ve bet the whole house on Boichis attacking there. The two Specialized Factory Racing riders separated from the rest of the lead group.
After the woods section, Blevins attacked and retook the lead. He never gave it back. Blevins crossed the finish line to the cheers of the American fans as he wrapped up the overall title and equaled Ned Overend and Tomac with five men’s elite XCO wins.
Waiting for Blevins after the finish line were his mom, Priscilla, his sister, Kaylee, and some aunts, uncles and cousins. Blevins’ father, Field, couldn’t be there since he’s recovering from hip surgery, but quickly joined the family celebration on FaceTime.
Heading into the final round of the World Cup season, Blevins has a freeing feeling to know he has no pressure after wrapping up the overall title. No matter the outcome this weekend in Canada, Blevins knows he accomplished his goal for the year and one of the biggest goals of his career.
“I really feel extremely lucky to pull things away and realize this is what I get to do, not what I have to do,” Blevins said. “That's a lucky place to be in as a professional athlete.”
Durango’s Asa Vermette couldn’t follow Blevins’ winning ways as a fellow Durangoan at Lake Placid. Vermette finished second in the men’s junior downhill race on Saturday.
Vermette finished the 2.2-kilometer downhill track in 3:07.755. Max Alran won the race in 3:06.590 and Tyler Waite was third in 3:09.765.
It was a different experience for Vermette because he qualified in the middle of the field. During Vermette’s qualifying run, he had a flat tire. Luckily, he still made it to the final.
Since Vermette qualified ninth, he went on his final run earlier than usual. Like usual, Vermette picked up the most time around the middle and end of the run. He was 5.8 seconds up on Jonty Williamson, who was second at the time, with eight riders to go.
Vermette lasted on top of the leaderboard for the next seven riders until the world champion Alran. The Frenchman had a 2+ second gap after the first two splits. Vermette was faster on the bottom splits, but Alran had enough of a gap built up to hang on to the win as he crossed the finish.
Alran leads the men’s junior downhill standings after nine rounds with 439 points. Vermette is second with 407 points followed by Waite in third with 364 points. It’ll be tough for Vermette to catch Alran with one round left since a win is 60 points, second is 50 points and third is 45 points.
Savilia Blunk is peaking at the right time of the season. The part-time Durango resident and former Fort Lewis College cyclist finished fourth in the women’s elite XCO race in Lake Placid on Sunday.
Blunk was at the front the entire race and nearly had her second consecutive women’s elite XCO podium.
“Fourth place today,” Blunk wrote on Instagram. “I had a good fight out there, patience was key - which I almost ran out and maybe went a little early but happy I gave it all I had and have no regrets. The most memorable from the day was the energy from this crowd today, and meeting so many young excited faces. The future is bright for our sport and the next gen. One more to go!!”
Blunk finished the women’s elite XCO race in 1:22:51 after seven laps around the XCO course. Jenny Rissveds dominated the field and finished in 1:20:15, followed by Evie Richards in second in 1:22:31 and Samara Maxwell in third in 1:22:46.
Racing for DeCathlon Ford Racing Team, Blunk had a decent start but quickly made it into the top 10. The former FLC rider looked very strong early and made it up to second on a nice climb as Rissveds put a gap on the main group.
At the end of the first lap, Blunk was third and in a chase group of four riders as Rissveds had a 20+ second lead. Blunk got up to second near the end of the second lap as Rissveds continued to dominate the rest of the field.
Rissveds was up by 49 seconds at the start of the third lap. Blunk was on her own in second and had a 10-second gap to third and fourth.
However, Richards responded and got back in front of Blunk in the third lap. The two rode together in the fourth lap as Blunk took a turn at the front of the twosome.
At the end of the fifth lap, Richards and Blunk were caught by Alessandra Keller and Maxwell to form a group of four. The foursome turned into a group of three in the sixth lap, with Blunk staying in the podium fight.
Blunk was dropped by Richards and Maxwell halfway through the final lap and came home in fourth.
On Friday, Blunk finished 11th in the women’s elite XCC race in 21:38. Rissveds won that race as well in 21:22.
Blunk is eighth in the women’s elite XCO standings with one round to go.
Riley Amos showed the form that made him a dominant men’s U-23 rider last season. Amos had a season-best 11th-place finish in the men’s elite XCO race.
“It was just spectacular,” Amos said. “It was so nice and kind of mind-blowing to see how big of a change it was compared to the rest of the year, just to be in the fight with really not anything different. So it's just such a huge improvement. I could just go; I was just strong from start to finish and it felt so good.”
Amos finished 11th in the men’s elite XCO in 1:20:41, 47 seconds behind Blevins.
The Durangoan didn’t qualify for the men’s elite XCC race, which sets the starting positions for the XCO race. Therefore, Amos was in 46th to start and had to work very hard in the first few laps to get to the front group. He was worried about how much that initial effort would hurt him later in the race. But Amos did what he wanted and got into the second chase group at the beginning of the fourth lap.
Amos climbed inside the top 10 at the start of the sixth lap, but his effort early in the race started to catch up with him in the last few laps. He barely missed out on his first men’s elite top 10.
“ (On the last lap) I tried to break the guys a bit over the top of the last climb into the downhill, and just Simon (Andreassen) barely came with me and he just barely got back onto my wheel at the end of the last downhill. So then you're trying to figure out how to play the sprint. Last year, I lost it from the front, so I didn't really want to be on the front … I hesitated, lost some momentum a little bit and then couldn't come back out of it.”
In Mont-Sainte-Anne, Amos will get the chance to race the XCC race for the first time since Val di Sole, Italy, in June because of his strong performance in Lake Placid.
Ivan Sippy had one of his strongest men’s U-23 performances in Lake Placid.
Riding for Durango’s Team Segment 28, Sippy finished the men’s U-23 XCC race in 14th in 21:49, 13 seconds behind Finn Treudler in first. Sippy then finished the men’s U-23 XCO race in 18th in 1:14:21, 3:08 behind Treudler in first.
“It was pretty special getting to race my last World Cup as a U23 at “home” in Lake Placid with such an awesome crowd, and my best World Cup performances were a nice cherry on top,” Sippy wrote on Instagram.
Bailey Cioppa had a solid weekend in Lake Placid. She finished 20th in the women’s U-23 XCC race, 28 seconds behind winner, Tyler Jacobs. Cioppa also finished 23rd in the women’s U-23 XCO race, 5:49 behind winner Vida Lopez De San Roman.
“It went ok,” Cioppa said. “We’re at the time in the season where maybe I’m a bit exhausted. The travel over there can be quite a bit even though it’s supposed to be a home World Cup.”
Cioppa called her XCO race “a heartbreaking day” because she was inside the top 10 when she flatted in a tough spot, causing her to lose a ton of time.
Lake Placid was Cioppa’s final World Cup of the season as she’s back in Colorado for the collegiate mountain bike national championships. She’s happy with her U-23 season as she achieved her goal of having at least two top-10 finishes. Cioppa is excited for her final U-23 season next year.
Behind Cioppa in the women’s U-23 XCO race was Lauren Aggeler in 36th and FLC’s Halle Britton was in 45th.
Dane Grey also competed for Segment 28 in Lake Placid. He finished 22nd in the men’s U-23 XCC and 26th in the men’s U-23 XCO.
Austin Beard finished 38th in the men’s U-23 XCO, Landon Dendy finished 56th, Toby Hassett finished 58th and Owen Deale finished 60th.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
