Nino Schurter (Scott-SRAM MTB Racing Team) won a record 34th World Cup cross-country Olympic race on Sunday. The 10-time world cross-country champion broke Julien Absalon's record with the win on his home soil in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in the elite men’s race.
Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) of Durango was also fighting in the front pack, but had a late mechanical issue when he bashed his chain ring on a root and ended up placing 12th out of 110 riders at the second World Cup stop. Blevins crossed in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 21 seconds, 2:06 after Schurter.
“A good one in Lenzerheide,” Blevins said. “Just kept chipping away at it and rode into the top 10 until a pretty wild mechanical had me running down the finish straight to fall back to 12th. But super happy to have found that flow out there. And a mega congrats to the GOAT (Nino Schurter) for making history; special day for our sport!”
In the elite women’s race, Savilia Blunk (Rockrider Ford Racing Team) ended up placing 38th out of 83 bikers in 1:31:42. Loana Lecomte of France (Canyon CLLCTV) won in 1:24:41.
“Another hard day and I won’t make excuses,” Blunk said. “I’m not where I can be and that’s that. It’s been a hard month, and I need to be honest about that, but keep believing because as the wise leader of our team (Maxime Marotte) says, ‘sooner or later it will fall into place.’”
In the men’s U23 XCO race, Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing) finished 20th in 1:15:46 after a couple hard crashes earlier in the week, including one that kept him from finishing the short track race.
“Gave it everything from start to finish and rode the best race I could with today’s legs,” Amos said. “Fourth row to comfortably in the front group after the first lap, and that’s where the legs left. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them back online …”
Carson Beard of Team Durango Segment 28 finished 24th after Amos in 1:16:21.
Beard’s teammate at Fort Lewis College, Ruth Holcomb, didn’t race in Switzerland.
“No Lenzerheide World Cup for me this weekend,” Holcomb said. “Taking some much needed home time to rebuild the engine and fin the fun in this sport I love so much.”
Two other Durangoans, however, raced in the women’s U23 competitions. Bailey Cioppa crossed 23rd in the cross-country Olympic race in 1:19:25 and Lauren Aggeler (Trinity Racing MTB) finished 56th in 1:25:45.
“Absolutely loved the track in Lenzerheide,” Cioppa said. “Had a solid start and first few laps, fell off the rock once, got a little sleepy on the fourth lap and rallied the fifth. Moving in the right direction …”
“Good feelings after the Lenzerheide World Cup!” Aggeler said. “Happy to see some progress and get to ride in one of the prettiest places.”
The World Cup began with the short-track cross-country races.
Blevins finished 31st in the elite men’s race, finishing exactly one minute behind the winner, Luca Schwarbauer of Canyon CLLCTV.
Blunk finished 28th in the elite women’s race, crossing 13 seconds after the winner, Jenny Rissveds (Team 31 Ibis Cycles Continental).
Cioppa finished 18th in the U23 women’s short-track race.
Amos, meanwhile, had two crashes in the first six minutes of his race, and did not finish. Beard and Aggeler don’t currently have enough UCI points to race short track, which is limited to 40 riders.
The third stop of the World Cup will start on Thursday in Leogang, Austria.
