The USA Cycling national championship calendar is rapidly changing with many of the premier events on the schedule facing cancellation, postponement and venue changes because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, the mountain bike national championships scheduled for July 6-12 in Winter Park have been postponed and likely face cancellation, with the next decision to be made May 15. The pro road national championships slated for June 18-21 in Knoxville, Tennessee, have also been postponed to a date not yet determined and will likely face a venue change.
Also postponed are the amateur road national championships set for June 25-28 in Florida.
“We are still looking to push several events later in the season to preserve their viability,” USA Cycling said in a news release. “Unfortunately, the start of the school year, the travel limitations many of our participants face and the potential impacts on local hosting communities has made the viability of holding some events uncertain. Although we will not be making a decision immediately in the hopes of a change to the current situation, we are facing the likely cancellation of amateur road, junior track, and mountain bike nationals for 2020.
“Our goal remains to operate national championships which are safe for participants, spectators, local communities, volunteers and staff while upholding a level of competition befitting a proper national championship.”
The cancellation of mountain bike nationals would have an affect on dozens of riders from Durango, including national champions such as Christopher Blevins, Riley Amos and Maddie Jo Robbins. Colby Simmons of Durango also is a returning national champion from last year’s amateur road nationals, while his older brother Quinn, last year’s junior world champion, was set to make his debut in the under-23 national championships and also test the himself in the pro road nationals.
“I think USA Cycling will try to get back to racing as soon as they can,” Blevins said. “As long as it is safe and fits in the guidelines, we will race.”
While the junior category races face cancellation with USA Cycling’s statement regarding not interfering with the 2020-21 school year, elite riders have received communication from the nation’s governing body for cycling that pro races could still be held, though the details have not yet been formed.
“Along with the possibility of conducting events later in the fall, we are reviewing the feasibility of running smaller events for professional and elite riders across various disciplines,” USA Cycling said. “Holding scaled-down events is one option under consideration but not a final decision at this time. These events will only be conducted if they can be held safely and fairly, which may be possible with significantly reduced field of athletes.”
Blevins said the idea of racing without fans with elite racers only is intriguing, but he hopes the juniors will get their chance, too.
“It wouldn’t quite be like an NBA game without fans, but it would be weird for us to race nationals without fans and those familiar faces around,” he said. “But it’s certainly possible to host an event like that just for elite racers. I will say, with everything rescheduled, there are already lots of conflicts with events popping up.
“For the juniors, nationals are the pinnacle of the year. When you’re a pro and are in Europe three or four times a year, nationals almost become a secondary goal. For the juniors, though, it’s their best pathway to getting the opportunities to race at worlds and get to the European races. Pros have other goals and can do other stuff and be a little more adaptable, but juniors and that one path and one goal for nationals.”
The marathon mountain bike national championships found a new home of Nov. 14 in Palo Duro, Texas. Still on the scheduled is the collegiate mountain bike national championships scheduled for Oct. 15-18 in Durango at Purgatory Resort with Fort Lewis College set to host in a quest for a 25th national title in program history.
But the rest of the future of national championship events in 2020 is in limbo, another tough bit of news for cyclists to swallow in a spring and summer filled with lost events after a hard winter of training. The backlog of rescheduled fall events only continues to grow.
“We understand the disappointment this news will cause and we share those feelings; we love putting on these events and seeing you all year after year,” USA Cycling said. “While we want to continue with national championships for everyone, like so many businesses, schools and events, we must make difficult decisions based on group size, location and the ability of our members to attend. We are committed to continuing to try to hold events where we can do so safely and fairly. I’m hoping the juniors like Riley Amos and Ruth Holcomb can still get over to Europe the next few years because they absolutely deserve that chance to race against the rest of the world, but we will see.”
Also canceled this year are the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships scheduled for June 25-28 in Albstadt, Germany. With the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo already postponed until 2021, there was some hope of the world championships being rescheduled for later in the year, but officials made the decision to cancel the event entirely on April 30. Albstadt’s preparation for the world championship dated back to 2017.
Blevins, in his final year as an under-23 racer, hoped to exit the rank with another medal after his silver in 2018 in cross-country and another silver in 2019 in the team relay alongside Amos, a fellow Durango athlete.
He hopes there is still a chance at a world championship event this year at another venue at a later date. He wants one more shot to claim a rainbow jersey as the world champion before he enters the elite pro level on the world stage in 2021.
“It’s a big bummer,” he said. “I haven’t really wrapped my head around it. I do think there’s a chance they have it somewhere else in September or October, even if it doesn’t happen in Germany. This was kind of the big goal for me next to the Olympics. I thought I had a chance last year, but I didn’t have a great season. This year, especially as my last year as a U23, I wanted to have that rainbow jersey.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
