Coming off an impressive win in Georgia at the 2016 USA Cycling Marathon Bike National Championships Saturday, local mountain biker Todd Wells earned an automatic nomination to the 2016 UCI Mountain Bike Worlds Elite Men’s team on Monday, but declined his spot on the team.
“I stepped away from the cross country world championships a couple of years ago,” said Wells. “I haven’t been in that type of race mode for a while. You have be 100 percent committed to that style of racing, there’s a lot that goes into it. I’ve been so invested domestically that I don’t think I can be competitive so I opted out so someone else could go in my place.”
Wells–who races for SRAM-Troy Lee Designs–won the Marathon National Championships with a time of 4 hours, 8 minutes, 52.8 seconds in the pro men’s category.
Nineteen members were named to the team, which will be held June 28-July3 in Nove Mesto Na Morave, Czeck Republic.
Fellow Durango rider Howard Grotts of Specialized Racing also earned an automatic bid for the Elite Men’s team. Along with Grotts, Durango local Christopher Blevins of Team Specialized Racing also made the team in the Junior Men’s category.
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