It wasn’t the lone World Cup race on American soil that Riley Amos hoped for. The 22-year-old rising star has dominated the men’s U-23 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season. Amos won all five of the U-23 men’s cross-country Olympic races he competed in before Lake Placid. He won four of the five short-track races before Lake Placid and finished second in the one he didn’t win.
Stepping onto home soil on Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, New York, last week, Amos was the favorite to win both the short track (XCC) and cross-country Olympic (XCO) races. Unfortunately for Amos and the American fans, Amos couldn’t find the form he had before the Olympics and finished fifth on Friday in the men’s U-23 XCC race. He then finished fourth on Saturday in the men’s U-23 XCO race.
“You either win or you learn,” Amos wrote on Instagram. “Extremely happy to be strong and healthy for this last block, let’s try and improve this next week for the last World Cup in Canada. P4 is still a great day made even better by so many awesome people who came out to watch the first edition of Lake Placid and the whole team who crushed it this week.”
On Friday, Amos finished fifth in the men’s U-23 XCC race in 20 minutes and 45 seconds after nine laps around the 0.68-mile short-track course. Dario Lillo won the race in 20:33.
In the U-23 men’s XCO race on Saturday, Amos started in the middle of the top 10 before moving up to second by passing some riders and others suffering bike issues. He got passed late on the final lap and just missed out on a podium spot.
Cole Punchard won the U-23 men’s XCO race in 1:04:07 after a 2.18-mile start loop and six laps around the 2.5-mile full cross-country track. Amos finished fourth in 1:05:02, just a second behind second-place Dario Lillo and third-place Alex Junior Malacarne.
Despite missing the podium, Amos still holds a commanding lead in the men’s U-23 overall standings heading into the final round at Maint-Sainte-Anne in Canada this weekend.
Fellow Durango Olympian Christopher Blevins showed great pace all weekend at Mount Van Hoevenberg. He looked like he had a chance to win his first World Cup race since the opening round in Brazil. Blevins had some bad luck in the men’s elite XCC and XCO races and missed the podium in both.
Blevins finished 30th in the men’s elite XCC race on Saturday in 22:28, 28 seconds behind winner and Specialized Factory Racing teammate Victor Koretzky.
The result after 10 laps on the 0.68-mile short track was misleading.
Blevins was running in the top five for the first three laps and got crashed into in an aggressive dive bomb move by Samuel Gaze on the third lap. Blevins didn’t fall, quickly remounted and got to 11th by the start of lap six.
The 26-year-old rallied beautifully to get to fifth at the start of lap seven but fell back in the middle of the lap. He was 10th in the pack but attacked out of nowhere to take the lead to start the climb at lap nine.
Koretzeky attacked after the climb and before the rock garden. Blevins was in sixth at the end of the ninth lap and had a crash that took him off his bike and out of contention as other riders dodged him.
Since Blevins had such a poor finish in the XCC race, he started near the back of the field for the men’s elite XCO race.
Blevins started way back and was 30th in the first lap and got up to 20th at the end of the second lap. He got up to 18th and was only seven seconds behind as it was a big group still on the third lap. Blevins got up into the top 10 at the start of the fifth lap
At the start of the seventh lap, Blevins was in the top chase group. The top two groups merged into one which included Blevins. He got as high as second before dropping to the end of the top group in seventh before finishing sixth in 1:22:21, six seconds behind Koretzky who won.
“A great day,” Blevins wrote on Instagram. “Thank you to everyone in Lake Placid for the cheers. I feel quite lucky to have all that support on course. Sixth for me after coming within a few seconds of the sprint for the win. Love that we had such exciting and tight races this weekend in the U.S.”
Durango resident Savilia Blunk spent the most time at the front of the field out of any of the Durango riders. Blunk finished sixth in both the women’s elite XCC and XCO races.
She finished in 19:49 in the women’s elite XCC race and eight seconds back of winner Sina Frei. On Sunday in the women’s elite XCO race, Blunk finished in sixth in 1:19:27 and 51 seconds behind winner Laura Stigger.
“I was really stoked with my race in the XCO,” Blunk said. “More than just the result, I was really stoked with how I raced. I've been really trying to race with being more of an animator in the race, going for it and trusting my instincts more. Mentally, that is a really hard thing to do... and now I'm realizing I could win one of these things. So shifting that mentality is a really big challenge, but I was really proud of my race last weekend.”
Blunk got off to a strong start and was as high as second in the first lap in the XCO race. She started the second lap in sixth as the last rider in the lead group. That group broke apart quickly and Blunk was in fourth. Blunk then made a move into second on the descent and caught up with Candice Lill at the start of lap three and took the lead on a climb in the middle of lap three.
Lill and Steiger passed Blunk in the middle of lap three and Blunk was fourth in a leading group of four to start lap four. She got dropped by the top three and was over 10 seconds off the top ground at the start of the fifth lap
Blunk was down about 10 seconds to start the sixth lap in fourth and dropped to sixth in a group of four. She was then dropped by that group and finished alone, able to wave to the fans as she crossed the line.
It was everyone’s first time at the Lake Placid course including Blunk. She liked the fast and tactical racing at Lake Placid and said the track could be improved with some more challenging features that separate riders’ skill levels.
Local rider Sofia Waite had a solid ride in the women’s U-23 field. Waite finished 22nd in the women’s U-23 XCC race and 18th in the women’s U-23 XCO race.
Durango’s Bailey Cioppa finished 23rd in the women’s U-23 XCC race and 25th in the XCO race.
“It was definitely one of my better world cups of the season,” Cioppa said. “I'm definitely looking for a race that I'm super proud of I don't think I've had one in a couple of months. We have another chance this weekend.
Cioppa said the Lake Placid course was one of the least technical courses of the year and she really enjoyed racing on it and looks forward to it next year.
Fellow Durangoan Lauren Aggeler finished 24th in the women’s U-23 XCC race and 28th in the XCO race.
On the men’s side, Durango’s Ivan Sippy finished 36th in the men’s U-23 XCO race. Fort Lewis College’s Dane Grey finished 31st in that same race.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
