Tough starting positions and a grueling course made it difficult for two Durangoans representing USA Cycling at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Cairns, Australia.
Durango native Howard Grotts led the American charge in the men’s elite cross-country race Saturday. He worked his way up from 57th to 39th with a finishing time of 1 hour, 33 minutes, 39 seconds. Durango’s Payson McElveen, a native of Texas, finished 58th down one lap.
Grotts’ time was 5:55 behind the winning time of Switzerland’s Nino Schurter, who won his third consecutive UCI world championship.
“Ended up a pretty mediocre 39th (Saturday) at worlds,” Grotts said on Instagram. “While races like Leadville and the Breck Epic are difficult in their own right, they certainly aren’t the best preparation for sea-level, high-intensity, technical racing like this. But overall I’m very happy with how the season went and have plenty of people to thank for it. Time to go on some offseason adventures.
Riders had to combat a dry, dusty course. Schurter’s perfect season continued with the win after he won all six World Cup races this summer. He faced a challenge from the Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Kulhavy, who eventually finished second, 7 seconds behind Schurter’s winning time of 1:27:44.
Switzerland’s Thomas Litscher finished third, 15 seconds behind Schurter.
McElveen also said he wasn’t completely happy with his performance but was happy to experience the event.
“Not the world championships I’d hoped for, but no excuses or second thoughts,” he said on Instagram. “I probably dug a little too deep in the opening minutes and was on the back foot for several laps following, unable to recover. On a course this demanding and in the best field in the world, these is no faking it and waiting for the legs to return. ... A small victory is grabbing a handful of places from my call-up, but even so it’s hard to feel ‘good’ about how my worlds went.”
The world championships were dominated by Swiss talent. Jolanda Neff also won the women’s elite race in 1:27:17 to edge Great Britain’s Annie Last by 2:23. Pauline Ferrand Prevot of France was third, 3:04 behind Neff.
Lea Davison of New York was the top-American woman in the elite race. She finished in sixth place in 1:31:16, 3:59 behind Neff. Erin Huck of Boulder finished 15th, 6:02 off the winning time.
Chloe Woodruff of Denver placed 29th, 8:51 back. Montana’s Rose Grant finished 33rd and was 10:55 back. Alexis Skarda of Grand Junction placed 46th and was two laps down at the race’s end.
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
