Area professional mountain bikers didn’t wait until this month’s events in California to get the 2020 season started.
Young stars Riley Amos and Ruth Holcomb claimed junior victories at an International Cycling Union (UCI) points race in Puerto Rico in an event loaded with Durango and Fort Lewis College talent. Christopher Blevins, in pursuit of the U.S. men’s mountain bike Olympic bid this summer in Tokyo, also got his season started at the Cyprus Sunshine Epic in a team stage race event in the Mediterranean.
Here’s a closer look at the season-opening action:
Amos got his final year in the junior 17-18 classification going with a win in spectacular fashion in the UCI Junior Series XCO race in Rincon, Puerto Rico. The 18-year-old from Durango, who finished school early and graduated Animas High School in December to focus fully on the upcoming season, crossed the finish line first in 1:25:04. He was four seconds faster than Brazil’s Alex Junior Malacarne. Amos had a 1:58 advantage on third place Adrien Boichis of France.
Amos said it took a few days to adjust to temperatures above 80 degrees as well as the high humidity. He said the course also didn’t hold up well to moisture, and it rained each day of the trip. Still, he handled the slick mud, roots and tight trails to win.
“Me, the Brazilian and the French kid were all together the first three laps. The fourth lap, the French kid kind of blew up and came off the back,” Amos said. “Me and the Brazilian kid were attacking each other up the climbs. The last lap, he slipped and fell through the feed zone, which was the gnarliest part of the course because it was an open field that sunk in holding water. Riding through that was a mud bath. He slipped and fell, and I took off and had a large gap in front of him.
“I kept looking back on the last lap and eased up a bit toward the end, but not too much. The last time through the feed zone, I heard people yelling, and I saw he was coming full sprint out of the trees. I had the lead but had to sprint to the finish line a bit. He made up a ton of time the last lap.”
Bjorn Riley and Robbie Day of the U.S. finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The junior field was loaded with 34 starters and 33 finishers.
Amos entered the season ranked No. 1 in the UCI junior 17-18 world rankings ahead of South Africa’s Luke Moir and Switzerland’s Janis Baumann.
“That No. 1 plate kind of puts a target on your back,” Amos said. “Everyone is seeing that and wanting to do their best to beat you. It adds a little pressure. Doing the first race and feeling good and getting a win to start the season, that boosted my confidence. I want to carry that with me going forward.”
Durango’s Holcomb, a current Animas High student, won her first race in the junior 17-18 age category. She led an American podium sweep, as she finished in 1:28:03. It was a dominant showing for the 17-year-old, as she finished 1:29 in front of second-place Haley Randel. Madelyn Roberson was third in 1:31:18, and Tai Lee Smith placed fourth in 1:32:14. There were 14 girls in the race, and 13 were American. Ecuador’s Marcela Nicole Endara Teran placed fifth.
“I was super motivated coming into the winter after getting mono last year and not being able to race at nationals or NICA races,” Holcomb said. “I was ready for this season to come. I didn’t know where I’d be coming back from sickness, but it’s been super exciting. I definitely didn’t know where I would be coming into this race, and I’m stoked with the win.”
Holcomb has made her return from illness a year ago and is out to show she will be a force in her first year in the 17-18 age category. She also hopes to get her first chance to race at the world championships this June.
“My first year in this division, this race opened up a lot for me,” Holcomb said. “Winning a national championship would be huge for me as well as potentially a top 10 at world championships. Those are my biggest goals. I want to go to worlds really bad. I’ve seen Maddie Jo Robbins do it a few times and a lot of my Bear Development teammates have gone. The course in Germany looks amazing, and I want to go.”
The elite men’s race was claimed by Mexico’s Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo in 1:27:15. He was the clear victor 2:38 in front of Brazil’s Guilherme Gotardelo Muller. Fort Lewis College alums Cole Paton and Stephan Davoust finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Paton of Washington finished in 1:33:09. Durango’s Davoust crossed in 1:35:07. The two are teammates on the Giant Factory Off-Road Team. FLC’s Nash Dory placed 13th, down one lap. Twenty men started the race, and 19 finished.
The elite women’s race was claimed by Chloe Woodruff of the U.S. She finished in 1:29:40, while Mexico’s Daniela Campuzano Chavez Peon was second in 1:31:14. FLC’s Savilia Blunk placed fourth. The Skyhawk from California crossed the line in 1:36:06. There were only eight women in the elite race.
Durango’s Cobe Freeburn got his first taste of under-23 racing in Puerto Rico. The Durango High School senior placed fourth in his race, down one lap. Daxton Mock of the U.S. won in 1:35:35, 20 seconds in front of fellow American Alexander Sugarman.
Many of the same riders will get the US Cup series started March 13-15 at Vail Lake in Temecula, California, followed by the Bonelli Park races March 20-22 in San Dimas, California.
Three UCI category races scheduled April 16-19 at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California, have been postponed because of coronavirus. A new date has not yet been set for the iconic spring festival.
Blevins and his Specialized Racing teammate Florian Vogel of Switzerland placed third at the four-stage two-rider team event in Cyprus.
The duo’s team time of 14 hours, 9 minutes, 18 seconds was 7:44 behind the winning time of Ondrej Cink and Bartlomiej Wawak of Kross Racing Team.
Specialized Racing’s other team of Alan Hatherly and Simon Andreassen placed second, 45.77 seconds behind the winning time. There were 26 teams in the race.
The Blevins team was sixth after the first stage and placed seventh on Stage 2 before battling back. The team took fifth on Stage 3 and won the final stage to get into third.
Blevins was especially proud of the Specialized team’s performance in the women’s race, as Haley Batten and Annika Langvad won all four stages to win the overall.
“A solid kickoff to the season for all of us,” Blevins said in a post to Instagram.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
