With an international contingent sprinkled into the field, Todd Wells’ 12th was the best Durango placing over the weekend in the season-opening U.S. Cup mountain bike cross-country race on a hot and dusty course in San Dimas, California.
Saturday’s race at Bonelli Park, an urban park east of Los Angeles, was a shock to the system, just like all season-openers, Wells said in a news release Tuesday. He came back Sunday to place third in the short-track cross-country race.
“California is in the middle of a drought, so the 12-minute course was covered in a dust cloud for the entire race,” Wells, the defending series champion, said of the cross-country event. “I like to get a race or two under my belt before a big event, but this year it didn’t work out, so I knew Bonelli was going to be extra painful.”
Quebec rider Raphael Gagne won Saturday’s race ahead of Max Plaxton, a 2012 Olympian for Canada. New Zealand racer Anton Cooper was third. The top American finisher was Adam Morka of Tucson, Arizona, who was sixth.
Wells, riding for Specialized, said he was in the main chase group for five of the seven laps, with Gagne and Plaxton about 20 seconds off the front. Wells said he lost power at the end of the fifth lap and fell back to finish in 12th.
Ben Sonntag of Durango, with Team Clif Bar, was just behind in 13th, with Durangoans Howard Grotts in 19th, Troy Wells in 23rd, Sepp Kuss in 24th, Ryan Standish in 56th and Stephan Davoust in 59th.
The Wells brothers had a better day Sunday in the short-track race.
Todd Wells said two riders – Sergio Mantecon Gutierrez, a 2012 Olympian for Spain, and Cole Oberman of Philadelphia – got a gap on the field and he couldn’t make the bridge. He outsprinted the chase group for third.
Troy Wells, with Team Clif Bar, was ninth, Sonntag 12th, Standish 31st and Davoust 32nd.
“It was a hard, hot weekend of racing, and I was happy to finish the weekend feeling stronger than I started it,” Wells said.
For the women, Emily Batty of Canada won the cross-country race. Georgia Gould of Fort Collins was the top U.S. rider, in third. Gould won the short track event Sunday, with Katerina Nash of Truckee, California, second and Batty third.
The next U.S. pro cross-country race is this weekend at Fontana, California, a short drive east from San Dimas.
johnp@durangoherald.com
