Riley Amos of Durango has been on multiple world cup podiums, and he reached the top rung again on Sunday.
Amos (Trek Factory Racing) won the 2023 Andorra men’s U23 cross-country Olympic world cup race by 13 seconds in 1 hour, 1 minute and 14 seconds.
The world cup win was Amos’ first since the 2021 U23 XCO race in Les Gets, France.
“Can’t even begin to describe these emotions and this feeling, still can’t believe it’s real,” Amos said. “For two and a half years, I’ve told myself every world cup that I could do it again and came up short, today it finally happened.”
Amos led the race after the first of five laps, with Adrien Boichis of France four seconds back.
Boichis, who finished just ahead of Amos to win Andorra’s short-track cross-country race earlier in the week, caught up to Amos and the two riders to finish the second, third and fourth laps together.
However, Amos had a little extra kick on the final lap and was able to separate from Boichis to secure the win.
Luca Martin of France finished third, 31 seconds after Amos. Bjorn Riley also competed for the USA, finishing fifth.
Lauren Aggeler of Durango (Trinity Racing MTB) raced in the U23 women’s XCO, but did not finish. Noelle Buri of Switzerland took the win, while Madigen Munro (Trek Factory Racing XC) finished seventh to lead the USA.
Savilia Blunk also had a strong cross-country Olympic race on Sunday and scored another top-10 result. Competing in the women’s elite race, Blunk (Rockrider Ford Racing) finished ninth out of 73 riders in 1:17:40.
“I’m putting the pieces together and it feels so good,” Blunk said.
Mona Mitterwallner of Austria won the race by over 30 seconds in 1:14:09, while Americans Kate Courtney (1:18:01) and Gwendalyn Gibson (1:19:12) finished 10th and 15th, respectively.
Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) finished 40th out of 111 cyclists in the men’s elite XCO race in 1:35:56. Mathias Fluckiger of Switzerland won in 1:28:03.
colivas@durangoherald.com
