Win No. 1 with a new team was extra sweet for Durango’s Todd Wells.
The three-time Olympian returned to the top of the podium Saturday at the Sea Otter Classic pro cross-country mountain bike race in Monterey, California.
He completed eight laps in 1 hour, 23 minutes, 3 seconds to edge Nicola Rohrbach and Stephen Ettinger.
It was Wells’ first win with his new SRAM/Troy Lee Designs Race Team. He left his longtime Specialized team over the winter.
“Sea Otter is a big one for us, and to get the win there is always great,” Wells said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “The fact I’m with the new team and just everything, it’s an awesome win. I didn’t have the best results leading in, and I didn’t know what to expect, but to seal the deal on a big day was incredible.”
Wells, Ettinger and Rohrbach raced in the lead pack for more than half the race. They worked together most of the race before attacking on the final lap. There was small singletrack section near the finish line, and Wells knew he had to get into that section first to be able to hold off the competition.
“I hit that singletrack about a minute and a half from the finish. It winds into the venue a bit and pops you out on pavement about 200 meters to the line,” Wells said. “It was a big battle for the singletrack, and I managed to get in and hold the sprint to the finish.”
The win came a day after Wells finished fourth in the short track race. He also was coming off a 10th-place result at the Bonelli XC No. 2 U.S. Cup race last week in San Dimas, California. Two weeks ago, Wells took fourth at the Fontana XC event in California.
“Sometimes it takes me a couple races to get going, and each year I need a bit more time to get things rolling,” the now 40-year-old Wells said. “I was good (Friday), not great, but knew I’d probably be good (Saturday). Winning short track is awesome, but everybody wants to win cross country.
“To win my first real target I had for the season is phenomenal.”
Wells said conditions Saturday were ideal with blue skies and a dry course. That served plenty of Durangoans well. Howard Grotts finished in seventh in 1:23:32 for his Specialized team. That result followed his 11th place in Friday’s short track. Park City, Utah’s Keegan Swenson, who trains in Durango, finished 17th, 3 minutes, 5 seconds behind Wells.
Benjamin Sonntag placed 20th another 3:53 back. Todd Wells’ brother, Troy, finished 29th in 1:28:26.
Durango’s Stephan Davoust and Payson McElveen came in together in 52nd and 53rd, respectively.
McElveen battled illness following a top-25 finish a week ago to earn some UCI points.
“I can honestly say that was the hardest 90 minutes of my life,” McElveen said of Saturday’s race. “Crazy to be fighting with everything I had for 40th? 50th? Don’t even know. That’s just kinda how it was this weekend. Did my best with being sick in the lead up to this one, but luckily some of the rest of the Durango contingent held it down.”
Durango’s Levi Kurlander also took 94th on Saturday.
Also in Friday’s pro men’s short track, Sonntag took 12th, Swenson was 13th, Davoust finished 18th, Rotem Ishay took 20th, Troy Wells finished 24th, Kurlander was 57th and McElveen came in 59th.
In Friday’s women’s short track, Sofia Gomez-Villafañe finished 19th and Emily Schaldach was 32nd.
Gomez-Villafañe finished 31st in the women’s pro cross-country, and Schaldach took 46th.
This year’s Sea Otter Classic had a change in format. It is usually a race consisting of two big, 15- or 20-mile loops. The race became a high category UCI event this year, and that required the race to follow more of an Olympic-style format with eight shorter laps. Wells said that worked in his favor Saturday.
Next up for Wells is the Whiskey 50 in two weeks in Prescott, Arizona. It is a marathon-style event.
Grotts and Wells made the USA Cycling men’s mountain bike long teams and are in contention to be selected for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro along with Swenson.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
