Durango’s Riley Amos and Christopher Blevins continued their assault on the early-season mountain bike races in the United States.
Last weekend at Vail Lake in Temecula, California, during the second stop of the USA Cycling ProXCT series that doubled as the second event on the US Cup calendar, the 21-year-old Blevins raced to a win in the cross-country mountain bike race in a field loaded with international elite professionals from Canada and Mexico. Amos, 17, also earned a victory in the short-track race for junior men.
For Blevins, it was his second win in as many weeks, as he also earned the short-track victory at the first series race at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, California. In that cross-country race, a broken chain in the final sprint led him to finish fifth.
His win in Sunday’s cross-country race was sweet revenge and came after he finished third in the Vail Lake short-track race.
“That was an exciting race at Vail Lake,” Blevins said. “The course was different; we had never raced here before – super fast and mostly flat, so it bunched up and stayed together and then all came down to the last lap.”
Blevins crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 38 minutes, 7 seconds. He was a little more than 1½ seconds ahead of 24-year-old Peter Disera of Canada. Andrew L’Esperance of Canada was third in 1:38:10. Bonelli’s cross-country winner Jose Gerardo Ulloa Arevalo of Mexico finished fifth in 1:38:34.
“We had a group of six. I wasn’t sure I was the strongest, but I made probably the craftiest move out there to take the win,” Blevins said. “Races like that are fun, the ones you kind of remember the most.”
Keegan Swenson was the second-fastest American, as the product of Park City, Utah, finished sixth in 1:38:34. Fort Lewis College’s Cole Paton, 22, finished seventh in 1:39:12 for his second consecutive top-10 cross-country finish. Also for Durango, 22-year-old Daniel Johnson finished 12th in 1:40:15 and Stephan Davoust was 17th in 1:40:51. FLC’s Henry Nadell rolled across 47th in 1:45:27 and fellow Skyhawk Nash Dory was 52nd in 1:46:17. Jason Rowton, also of FLC, was 65th in 1:49:27.
In the pro men’s short-track, Blevins was third to the line in 25:15.075. He was only .025 seconds behind Ulloa Arevalo and only .002 seconds ahead of Disera, who took fourth. The race was won by Canada’s Leandre Bouchard in 25:10.195.
Also for Durango in pro short-track was Davoust in 10th in 25:41. Paton finished 13th in 25:50, while FLC teammate Nadell was 17th in 26:02. Johnson placed 19th in 26:12, and Dory was 26th in 26:22. Rowton placed 40th in 22:41.
Amos got the weekend started with his short-track win for the junior men. He crossed the line in 20:06.690, four seconds clear of California’s Blake Wray and more than five seconds faster than Canada’s Vincent Thiboutot. Durango’s Cobe Freeburn was 14th in 20:36.780.
“The Bonelli short-track didn’t necessarily go as I planned. It ended up a full-tilt sprint at the end,” Amos said. “I learned from that and went into Vail Lake expecting that. I knew I had to go full gas the last lap if I didn’t want to leave it to a sprint. This time, it went how I wanted it to. I got away on a punchy climb, held it on the downhill and into the finish.”
The win came one week after Amos was fourth in the Bonelli short-track, and it was Amos’ first win in the junior men’s 17-18 category after he bumped up an age division from last season. He credited the tactics of his Bear Development Team for helping him finish first.
“I think a big part of it is having the team. We’ve got the numbers over a lot of kids and can work together as a team in short-track pulling each other to the front, breaking the wind,” Amos said. “It gives us the edge over competitors, and having teammates is a motivational boost, too.”
Amos, who was fifth in the Bonelli cross-country, placed 10th in the cross-country race at Vail Lake. He finished in 1:07:56 and outsprinted Minnesota’s Braeden Anderson for the top-10 result. Canada’s Carter Woods was the winner in 1:05:13, 23 seconds ahead of Markus Kaad Heuer of Denmark. Freeburn placed 24th in 1:09:41.
“I’m super stoked on how the season has started,” Amos said. “It’s been a super tough winter to get training for everybody, especially everyone from Colorado. I’m stoked to come in strong and am excited for how the rest of the season is going to go.”
Vail Lake also saw some current and former Fort Lewis College women ride well. Reigning world champion Kate Courtney of California won the women’s pro cross-country race in 1:30:00, 14 seconds ahead of Boulder’s Erin Huck. FLC alumna Sofia Gomez-Villafañe was fourth in 1:33:08 to get on the podium. Current FLC rider Savilia Blunk finished 19th in 1:38:08, and FLC’s Katja Freeburn of Durango was 35th in 1:48:22.
In the women’s pro short-track, Huck won in 25:34, while Courtney was second in 25:53. Gomez-Villafañe was 13th in 27:00, while Blunk was 14th in 27:08. Katja Freeburn placed 27th.
Next for Amos and Blevins is the Pan-American Continental cross-country mountain bike championships April 3-7 in Aguascalientes, Mexico. They will be joined by Durango’s Howard Grotts, the 2016 Olympian and four-time defending cross-country mountain bike national champion. Amos had already measured himself against many of Mexico’s top riders but expects to see fast Brazilians.
For Blevins, it will be his first big international competition since his silver medal at the UCI under-23 world championships last fall in Switzerland. Blevins said he thinks he is capable of a win or a podium spot but knows anything is possible on race day.
“There’s still hundreds of U23s out here you’re going against,” he said. “I have no set goal in mind. Every race I enter, I expect myself to be fighting for the win. We will see how this year goes. Pan-Ams are still super early.
“Hopefully, I can get some points. My World Cup goal for all seven of them is to top five, podium or win.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
