It was another epic weekend for some of Durango’s top mountain bike talent.
Howard Grotts expanded his overall lead in the Epic Rides Off-Road Series with a win in The Grand Junction Off-Road men’s pro backcountry mountain bike race. The 24-year-old Olympian from Durango completed the course in 2 hours, 57 minutes, 14 seconds to finish well ahead of second-place Geoff Kabush of Canada. Kabush crossed the line in 3:00:27, and Colorado Springs’ Russell Finsterwald was third in 3:00:55.
“I kind of tried to get a gap on the first of more or less two climbs,” Grotts said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They got me basically right on the bottom of the first descent. When we hit the next pretty long climb, that’s where I was able to get away for good.”
Durango’s Benjamin Sonntag was fourth in 3:03:31, as he beat Tucson, Arizona’s, Kyle Trudeau in a sprint to the finish line. Trudeau was one second back of Sonntag.
Sonntag said Grotts was untouchable in the second big climb. He looked at his Strava tracking network after the race and said Grotts completed the climb in about 33 minutes, which was 3 minutes faster than any other rider.
Grotts now has a considerable lead in the Epic Rides Series standings. The last of the three races in the series is scheduled for June 18 in Carson City, Nevada. Grotts won $5,000 for his win Sunday and could win an extra $10,000 bonus if he is the series grand champion. Sonntag is third in those standings behind Grotts and Kabush. Jeremiah Bishop is fourth.
“Howard seems like to be out of reach of everyone,” Sonntag said in a phone interview with the Herald. “He can only beat himself.”
In the sport of mountain biking, anyone can see title hopes slip away with one bad break. Last year’s series champion, three-time Olympian and Durangoan Todd Wells, had one of those bad breaks Sunday. A punctured tired ended his day, and he had to walk off the course. He’s had unfortunate luck at both Epic Rides events this year. He was 23rd at the Whiskey Off-Road with another tire problem. Wells had hoped to defend his win from last year’s Grand Junction event, but it wasn’t to be.
“I knew it was going to be a big task with Howard Grotts toeing the line and nearly 6,000 feet of climbing,” Wells said in an email to the Herald. “We were cruising down Butter Knife when I punched a hole in the top of the tire. It was a perfect hole to use a tire plug, but the plug was just a little too small to seal the hole. I put in a tube and got going again but punctured again about 10 minutes later.”
Out of CO2 and tubes, Wells’ day was over. On such a technically demanding course, no other riders were willing to spare any extra gear to keep the defending champ in the race.
“I bushwhacked through the desert for about an hour to get back to the road, and my day was over,” Wells said. “I hate not finishing races, but with such a rough trail, it was impossible to ride a flat to the next zone.”
Sonntag put in another strong result in Grand Junction. The German who calls Durango home has had another consistently impressive season and put in his best-ever time on the climbs on a Grand Junction course he has come to love.
“I always have a good result there,” he said. “I won the first one and have been second every other race. Epic Rides Series has grown a lot, so I knew a top-five would be a really good race, and that’s how it played out. I sprinted for fourth and won that one, so I’m super happy. That was the maximum I had that weekend.”
Recently crowned marathon mountain bike national champion Payson McElveen, also a Durango resident, finished ninth in his first race wearing the stars and stripes jersey. He finished in 3:08:13.
“It’s hard to follow up a national championship with a race you’re satisfied with,” McElveen said. “I had a good steady day. Not a rock star day, but not a bad day.
“That second climb was definitely a decisive one. I didn’t have the best legs for that. I have felt really good in the descents lately, so I rallied back on the technical descents and got around Nic Beechan and Bishop in the sprint.”
Also representing Durango was Fort Lewis College’s Henry Nadell, who finished 13th in 3:11:02. Rotem Ishay of Durango was 15th in 3:12:22, and FLC rider and Durangoan Stephan Davout was 16th in 3:12:52.
Durango’s Troy Wells was 21st in 3:17:10, Lucas Rowton placed 23rd in 3:19:11 and Nick Gould was 28th in 3:23:38. Durango’s 18-year-old Keiran Eagen placed 37th in 3:29:34. Levi Kurlander rounded out the Durango finishers in the pro men’s race in 54th in 3:39:27.
In the women’s pro race, Katerina Nash of the Czech Republic was first in 3:38:12. Amy Beisel of Colorado Springs placed second in 3:41:44.
Sofia Gomez-Villafañe, a Fort Lewis College alumna who now resides in Park City, Utah, was third in 3:47:25. Durango’s Emily Schaldach placed 11th in 4:05:56.
As with all Epic Rides events, there also was a fat-tire criterium race downtown the Friday before the backcountry race. There is no pay-out, but the athletes usually all compete for pride on the same bikes they race in the backcountry event.
Kabush won that race with Todd Wells second. Grotts was sixth in that event. Gould placed 11th, Rowton was 16th, Troy Wells was 22nd, Sonntag was 23rd, McElveen was 24th and Davoust was 25th. Also for Durango was Ishay in 28th, Eagen in 31st, Kurlander in 41st and Cody Cupp in 58th.
Nash also won the women’s criterium. Gomez-Villafañe was sixth and Schaldach placed seventh.
Many of the Durangoans will race this weekend at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, and Grotts figures to contend for King of the Mountain honors in the men’s road race and mountain bike race. McElveen, the defending road champ, and Sonntag also will give King of the Mountain a shot. Todd Wells will only race the mountain bike event.
After that, all attention gets turned to Carson City.
“I probably have about a 10-minute lead or so in the overall,” Grotts said of the Epic Rides Series. “But Todd showed anyone can have a race that totally erases any lead. I still have to race a really good race.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
