Although Riley Amos hasn’t spent a ton of time on podiums this year, the rising star from Durango hasn’t forgotten how to win big races, despite two crashes at the 2025 USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships.
Amos returned to the top step of the podium on Saturday in the men’s elite cross-country Olympic race in Roanoke, Virginia, to win his first elite national championship.
The 23-year-old Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli rider wasn’t the only rider with Durango ties to win a national title; Savilia Blunk, Bailey Cioppa, Anna Morozowich and Cole Paton also won national championships.
“I'm super happy, because it's just so nice to get something on the board this year, for sure,” Amos said. “It was definitely a really special race, just because I definitely went in knowing the win was possible. I saw those chances get shaken up a bit on the first lap when I just had a pretty hard crash, so it took me a bit to get going and regain myself.”
Amos won the Roanoke men’s elite cross-country Olympic (XCO) race in one hour 30 minutes and 22 seconds. Bjorn Riley was second, 10 seconds behind and Durango resident and former Fort Lewis College Skyhawk Cole Paton finished third, 1:49 behind Amos.
It wasn’t the best start for Amos as he crashed during the first lap. He was pushing hard to create a gap and then hit the wrong root very hard, causing him to lose his front end. Amos cut his lip, face, had swollen knuckles and screwed up his bars.
Despite the crash, Amos rallied and started cutting into the gap to the leaders. It was 40 seconds during Lap 3, but Amos cut the gap by 10-20 seconds a lap before he made contact with Riley before the final lap.
Amos attacked Riley in the feed zone, knowing it would be very hard to pass in the single track for the rest of the lap. Amos got ahead and held on for the win.
“It was definitely one of those that you're just riding with a ton of emotion and motivation once you realize it is still possible,” Amos said. “So it’s a really special one for sure; my first-ever elite title. You only each get to wear a national champs jersey in the World Cup circuit for a year.”
Amos wasn’t sure what to make of the Roanoke XCO course when he pre-rode it before the race. It had been a busy few days before as Amos flew into Roanoke from Barcelona on Tuesday.
But once the riders started racing, Amos enjoyed the fast sections and the single-track sections that were off-camber.
It was very green and humid in Roanoke, with rain on most days, according to Amos. It was clear to Amos how different the dirt was on the East Coast with the added moisture. Amos said the temperatures were in the high 80s.
On Thursday, Amos couldn’t recover enough from another crash to take the men’s elite cross-country short track title (XCC). He finished second in 20:10, five seconds behind Riley in first.
Amos and Riley pushed the pace at the beginning of the short track so that the battle for the win would be between the two of them. Their strategy worked out, but Amos hit the deck with three laps to go, hindering his chances against Riley. Amos was looking forward to having a tactical battle against Riley for the win.
Former FLC Skyhawk and Durango resident Savilia Blunk won the women’s elite cross-country short track national championship on Thursday in Roanoke. Blunk won in 20:42 in a sprint finish over Gwendalyn Gibson.
“It had successes and disappointments,” Blunk said about her week. “I was super happy with how I raced in the short track. It was a really tactical, really cool urban course with how they made it in a downtown park and it made the race really tactical. I feel like I raced a really good, strategic race and I was really stoked to win it.”
Blunk described the XCC course as an urban cyclocross criterium-style course. There was hardly any elevation change with a few rolling sections.
On Saturday, Blunk was in the fight for the women’s elite XCO crown, but couldn’t get past Kelsey Urban before the sprint finish. Urban won in 1:30:56, with the same time as Blunk in second.
“I didn't have a lot of opportunities to get around (Urban),” Blunk said. “I tried everywhere I could, but I really couldn't. It was a bit frustrating, because where I felt the strongest, which was later in the lap, I couldn't get around, so we came down to a sprint. It was definitely a very interesting course and very unique race. It was not like anything we race throughout the year at the World Cup.”
Fellow former Skyhawk and Durango resident Cole Paton won the elite/open men mountain bike cross-country marathon title on July 14 in Roanoke. Paton crossed the finish line in 3:59:21, 3:57 ahead of Bradyn Lange in second and 5:28 ahead of Kerry Dufour in third.
“It was really good, man,” Paton said. “I just had a ton of fun. I've been up in Washington for a couple months and just been going through some stuff with my family ... I haven't been super focused on training; I've just been dealing with life. This was my first race back and I didn't really have any expectations. I just wanted to go race my bike and have fun. It ended up working out really good for me so I was super stoked on that.”
The marathon course was 53 miles and had over 7,000 feet of climbing. Paton called the course a double lollipop because riders had to ride out to start each of the two laps.
Paton wasn’t worried about the attacks of other riders in the race; he thought it was a race against the elements, so he rode conservatively for the first 1.5 hours.
After his conservative start, Paton saved enough energy to separate from the other top riders and was riding with Lange for about 30 minutes at the front before Lange punctured his tire. This allowed Paton to get a gap around halfway through the race that he never relinquished.
Paton also raced in the men’s elite XCC and XCO races. He finished 11th in the XCC race and third in the XCO race, 1:49 behind Amos.
Since Paton doesn’t have a lot of UCI points, he started in the back of the XCO race. He made his way through the field and caught up with Amos after his crash. The two of them rode together for a few laps before Amos exhibited a pace Paton couldn’t match and Paton had to settle for third.
Durango’s Bailey Cioppa won the women’s U-23 XCC national title on Thursday. She finished first in 19:22; Greta Kilburn finished second with the same time.
“I'm super happy about it,” Cioppa said. “I wasn't entirely sure where my fitness was. I was a little bit tired after being home for three weeks, just after so much racing. But, I managed it well enough and I'm super happy to wear the jersey for the next year.”
The women’s U-23 XCC title is Cioppa’s third national title in her promising career.
Thursday’s XCC race was fast and tactical, with laps no longer than two minutes, according to Cioppa. She worked with her Bear National Team teammate, Makena Kellerman, to control the front of the race.
Cioppa attacked with two laps left and didn’t let anyone else see the front before she sprinted to the finish against Kilburn.
On Saturday, Cioppa finished second in the women’s U-23 XCO race, 24 seconds behind Kellerman in first.
“Prior to the race, we knew we wanted to be first and second into the single track, so I let her lead and I was second,” Cioppa said. “We dropped the rest of the field within the first lap, and it was just me and Makena for five laps.”
Cioppa made a mistake on the last lap and tried to pass Kellerman on a climb where there wasn’t room. Cioppa had to unclip and lost her chance at the XCO title.
In the youth categories, Durango’s Anna Morozowich won the junior women’s 13-14 XCO national title and the junior women’s 11-14 XCC national title on Wednesday.
Morozowich won the XCO race in 37:40, 1:43 ahead of second-place Abby Cole. She won the XCC race by four seconds over Cole.
The mountain bike nationals in Roanoke were the end of a lengthy trip for Morozowich, who went to road nationals in Wisconsin in late June and won the road race national title for her age group. She then visited family before going to Roanoke.
“We were training both road and mountain bike,” Morozowich said. “I definitely would say that we added road even though we were definitely training it very hard. It was really amazing to win the road race and then with mountain bike, that's one of my most trained and focused disciplines. So it was definitely a great surprise to win and get second at the road nationals.”
Morozowich controlled her XCC race from the start and on the penultimate lap, she got a gap on Cole, which she held until the finish. She said it was a great race with a lot of attacks, which she was leading.
The hot and rainy conditions couldn’t stop Morozowich in the junior women’s 13-14 XCO race on Friday. She rode with an ice sock to help cool her down.
“I got the whole shot, led into the trees and I rode away from everybody, which I was definitely surprised by,” Morozowich said. “But I used the climbs and just attacked every single one as if we were all together. Through the first lap, I had a minute; then I kept pushing and just led to the finish.”
Durango-based Segment 28 had a strong showing at mountain bike nationals, headlined by Ivan Sippy. He finished second in the U-23 men’s XCO race on Saturday and third in the men’s U-23 XCC race on Thursday.
Sippy finished in 1:27:26 on Saturday, one second behind Dan English in first. Behind him were Segment 28 teammates Austin Beard in third and Dane Grey in fifth. Sippy was only two seconds back in third of men’s U-23 XCC race winner Nicholas Konecny.
“I'm really happy with it,” Sippy said. “Our U-23 men's field is super stacked this year. So we all kind of knew going in, there were like 10 people who could win either one of the races.”
Sippy was in a good position early in the XCC race as there was a big lead group. The race came down to a final group of four but a rider ahead of Sippy slid out on the pavement, causing a gap to form between the front two riders and Sippy. This ruined Sippy’s chances in the XCC race.
The conditions were tricky during Sippy’s XCO race, as it started raining during the second lap. Sippy knew he needed to position himself well as the course changed due to the weather and he did.
He battled with English and Beard in the final laps. Sippy tried to pass English on one of the corners of the single track and it didn’t work. English had the lead out of the single track and held on for the win.
Segment 28 had plenty of top five and top 10 finishes with Sippy, Beard, Grey, Landon Dendy and Owen Deale.
“The team’s riders showed quality performances at nationals this year,” Segment 28 founder Rotem Ishay said. “Although this year we did not crown a champion as in past years, we were very much in the front battle for it ... It’s inspiring to see what high-performance standards our riders are setting considering our team is only five years old and being such a small team compared to other national programs.”
Durangoan’s Ruth Holcomb, Lauren Aggeler, Toby Hassett and Kai Lokey also competed in the U-23 field. Holcomb finished fourth in the women’s U-23 XCC and XCO races. She was 33 seconds behind Cioppa in the XCC race and 6:42 behind Kellerman in the XCO race.
Aggeler finished fifth in the women’s U-23 XCO race, 7:11 behind Kellerman, and eighth in the women’s U-23 XCC race, 1:14 behind Cioppa. Hassett finished fourth in the men’s U-23 XCC, three seconds behind Konechy; Hassett did not finish the men’s U-23 XCO. Lokey finished 12th in the men’s U-23 XCC and 14th in the men’s U-23 XCO.
Cooper Wells had a strong showing in Roanoke, finishing second in the junior men’s 11-2 XCO race and 18th in the junior men’s 11-14 XCC race.
“I was pretty happy with that, because I started pretty much on the last row,” Wells said about the XCO race. “The start started right into a corner and it was super sketchy ... It went down to a four-way sprint. I was just super tired from having to chase on to the group that I had nothing left for the sprint and got second.”
Weslie Winebarger finished second in the junior women’s 11-12 XCO race. She was 1:08 behind winner Silvia Palomaki.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
