The United States is ready to bring home medals at this year’s International Cycling Union (UCI) Mountain Bike World Championships, and that was clear with the first event Wednesday.
The team relay opened action for cross-country mountain bikers at Mont-Sainte-Anne in Quebec, Canada. While Switzerland’s five-rider team raced to a third consecutive world championship with a time of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 55 seconds, it was the United States that impressed in second, only 16 seconds behind the Swiss team.
France placed third, another 12 seconds behind the Americans, while Italy was fourth, 58 seconds behind Switzerland.
The U.S. team had two from Durango in junior men’s rider Riley Amos and under-23 men’s star Christopher Blevins. Also on the team was defending elite women’s world champion Kate Courtney of California, elite men’s national champion Keegan Swenson of Utah and under-23 women’s star Haley Batten of Utah.
“This medal is a testament to our building toward competitiveness on the world stage,” Blevins said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “It’s our first team relay medal since 2007. We’ve got one that we’ve wanted for a while.”
As he was a year ago, Blevins was first off the start line. He had the U.S. in third with a lap time of 11:33, which was only two seconds behind Denmark and one behind the Czech Republic.
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“I always do better when I’m chasing someone and have someone right in front of me to stick onto,” Blevins said. “I also do well at race starts and those sprints. That’s kind of why they had me start. I couldn’t have asked for anything else.”
Despite a small crash, Amos kept the U.S. in third after his lap time of 12:46.
“The silver today was pretty special,” Amos said in a message to The Herald. “I had a great start to my lap and was feeling really good, but I had a dumb crash that cost me a little time. It wasn’t huge, but it was something.”
Batten went third and got the U.S. into second with her incredible time of 13:30, the fastest lap for any woman the entire race. Courtney kept that place with her lap of 13:31, and Swenson anchored the team with an 11:51 lap.
“Our women had the first- and second-fastest times,” Blevins said. “That was amazing. (Amos) was bummed from his crash, but he shouldn’t be disappointed at all. He busted it out and came around in third on a bad run, and that’s awesome. I’m excited to see what he can do.”
Nino Schurter, a seven-time cross-country mountain bike elite men’s world champion, helped Switzerland move from third to first on the final lap with an incredible 11:19. The 33-year-old will be the favorite to win a fifth consecutive world title Saturday.
“Everyone ahead of me had great laps and set it up perfectly for me, and I put in the best lap I could,” Swenson said in a USA Cycling news release.
“I knew Nino was right behind me so I just tried to keep it smooth and not make a mistake. I tried to stay ahead of him as long as I could. He passed me on the last climb and I tried to go with him but couldn’t quite respond. We are psyched, though. This is the first podium the team relay has had since 2007. I think this was a great opener for my race later this week; it’s a good time to get some speed on the course and test out some equipment. I feel good heading into the rest of the week.”
The silver medal for the Americans was a big improvement from sixth place in 2018 and fifth in 2017.
“This was a great way to kick off the week,” Marc Gullickson, Mountain Bike Performance Director for USA Cycling, said in the news release. “I was extremely happy to see all of our riders rise to the challenge and perform. It’s a huge boost of confidence to already have a medal leading into the rest of the week. I was particularly impressed by Haley’s performance. She has had a phenomenal season and has a great shot, along with several of our other riders, of having a top performance here at Mont-Sainte-Anne this week.”
Amos had a quick turnaround Thursday and placed 14th in the junior men’s cross-country race. The 17-year-old national champion battled mechanical issues, including a broken chain, after he rode in the lead group much of the first three laps.
Blevins will look to make another step up the podium in the men’s under-23 race Friday. Last year in Switzerland, he placed second.
“This course suits me well,” Blevins said.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
