With strong competition ripping around the short-track cross-country mountain bike course, Durango’s Howard Grotts landed on the podium.
The 25-year-old Specialized Racing rider placed third Friday in the professional men’s STXC race at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. It was a relatively mild temperature day with a high of 64 degrees, but humidity as high as 88 percent in the morning made for tougher conditions on the sandy course.
Switzerland’s Nicola Rohrbach placed first in 27 minutes, 48 seconds. Four men chased him and finished three seconds back, with New Zealand’s Anton Cooper in second, Grotts third, Canada’s Geoff Kabush fourth and California’s Alex Wild fifth.
Durango’s Payson McElveen, fresh off a second-place finish at the Moab Rocks stage race, finished eighth. He was 12 seconds back of Rohrbach. Utah’s Keegan Swenson was ninth in the same time.
“Happy to finally have a decent ride at (Sea Otter Classic) today,” McElveen, of the Orange Seal team, said in a post to Twitter. “Getting caught behind a crash on the last lap meant curtains on podium chances, but the legs felt way good cruising around in the lead group up to that point.”
Durango’s Daniel Johnson placed 14th, 39 seconds back. Former FLC rider Ryan Standish, now of Aurora, was 15th, and FLC’s Cole Paton was 17th, both in the same time as Johnson. FLC rider and Durango native Stephan Davoust finished 20th, 57 seconds back. Richard Cypress Gorry, another FLC rider, placed 22nd, 1:14 off Rohrbach’s pace.
Full results for the 72-rider field were not available at press time.
The big cross-country race is scheduled for Saturday. It is the third leg of the USA Cycling Pro XCT series this season.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
