Fayetteville US Pro Cup Is Next Stop On Trail to Paris
Full allotment of UCI XCO points available over three days of racing
On July 28 and 29, Elancourt Hill, the highest point in the Paris region of France, will host the mountain bike events for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Everything that happens in a UCI XCO race from now until someone lights the flame in Paris focuses on getting to the start line of France's own Mount Trashmore (Elancourt Hill is a former sand quarry and was used as a landfill until 1975).
This brings us to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the second round of the 2024 US Pro Cup. On offer for elite racers are two UCI XCO races, including a C1 and an HC race. The goal for Americans is to Hoover up those points and (1) secure as many spots as possible on the start line and (2) perform well enough to make the argument that if spots are secured, one of those spots should go to you.
Now, let's get semantical for a hot second. When you read above that this is an excellent opportunity for Americans, you may have assumed I was talking about U.S. folks, but here's the rub. Most of the Americas came to play in Fayetteville: North, Central and South, depending on whose map you want to use. Throw in some riders from New Zealand, Estonia, Switzerland, and somewhere I'm surely forgetting, and this is not the U.S. point grab some may have assumed. There are so many Canadian/Quebecois teams down here, Arkansas could probably be the 11th province.
With so much racing on the schedule, we needed to start the weekend early, like Wednesday early. Load-in for the venue was Tuesday, and the first race of the event happened yesterday, with a full slate of UCI racing, including junior men and women races, a standalone U23 men's race, a standalone men's elite race, and a mixed women's U23/elite race.
That's a lot of races, but there should be one more. And I know I say this with the full knowledge that there are only so many hours in the day. But we need to stop combining the U23 women with the elite women. It's a disservice to riders, spectators, and, selfishly, photographers. The elite women and U23 women had full fields. They deserve separate races, especially with the confusing race durations. For the C1, the U23 women finished one lap before the elite women, but they all raced together. So, as it happened, the winner of the U23 race, Marin Lowe (Pittstop Racing Team), peeled off from the group of elite women she was racing with to raise her hands and take the victory while the rest of the group kept their heads down and did one more lap.
This is not a criticism of the race organizer or really anyone—just something whose time has passed. So now we need to find the time in the schedule and move forward.
In typical fashion, I've made it 500 words into this race recap and have yet to do any actual recapping. With introductory remarks this long, my race report has turned into a podcast.
Let's get to it and talk about the racing. There wasn't much drama at the front in the women's elite race. So much so that in true Canadian style, race winner Jenn Jackson (Liv Factory Racing) apologized for it being a little boring at the front after she crossed the line. Jackson wasn't throwing shade here. She was stating facts. She made that race boring from the start, as she should. There was no messing around in the field; Jackson took the hole shot and already had a decent lead by the time they finished the start loop. From there, it was all about racing steady and smart. No mistakes. She even opted for an abbreviated post-up, not wanting to take any chances with high winds at the finish.
Behind Jackson, Ella McPhee (Pivot Cycles-OTE) separated herself from the rest of the field to ride solo in second place. She finished over four minutes behind Jackson and nearly two minutes ahead of third place.
The battle for third was the most exciting racing in the field. The Bear National Team duo of Makena Kellerman and Bailey Cioppa dueled with Maria Carolina Flores Garcia (Specialized Racing Mexico) for the third spot. The trio fought for position for most of the race before Kellerman could get away and take the third spot, leaving Cioppa and Flores Garcia to sprint it out for fourth and fifth, with Cioppa gaining the advantage by three seconds.
Missing from the start line were Haley Batten (Specialized Factory Racing), who is already on her way to Brazil for the first round of the World Cup and Trek Factory Racing teammates Gwendalyn Gibson and Madigan Munro. Batten won the first round of the US Cup at Vail Lake, and Gibson and Munro were third and fourth, respectively. Jackson took second in Vail Lake.
In the men's race, Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) and Riley Amos (Trek Factory Racing-Pirelli) came into the weekend with a plan. A plan Amos would only generally share with me after Wednesday's race because he didn't want to give away tactics with more racing to come this weekend. If those tactics are "ride everyone else in the field off our wheels," I think they already know what's coming. The top-level plan, as it were, was to get the U.S. as many points as possible. Olympics. It's all about the Olympics.
In a rarely seen Specialized/Trek collab, Blevins and Amos took turns at the front, testing out the legs of their competitors. Blevins went first, getting a jump at the gun and looking like he was going to Jenn Jackson the field. But by the time the group finished the start loop, things had calmed to a more leisurely pace, and it would have been easier to name the riders in the 44-racer-strong field who weren't there.
After four laps, the group remained at eleven riders. Blevins explained that the strong headwinds that had picked up on the exposed hilltop venue at Centennial Park made attacking a risky move. You didn't want to get stuck alone fighting the wind. To that end, Blevins and Amos shared wind-blocking duties with Carter Woods (Giant Factory Off-Road Team), Dario Lillo (Giant Factory Off-Road Team), Cole Punchard (Pivot Cycles-OTE), Logan Sadesky (Broad Street Offroad), Raphael Auclair (Pivot Cycles-OTE), Leandre Bouchard (Foresco Holding Proco RL), Tyler Orschel (Pan-American Union Racing), Bradyn Lange (SCOTT Orange Seal), and Carson Beard (Bear National Team). Robbie Day and Brayden Johnson chased the group a few seconds back.
With only a few laps to go, Blevins decided the time had come and started stretching out the group. Only Amos and Woods were able to respond. The trio came together on the back half of the course, and at that point, Canadian national champ Woods knew he had a numbers problem with the duo from south of the border.
Blevins and Amos worked together to drop Woods and ensure the top points went to U.S. riders. After achieving the Team USA goals, the gloves were off, and it was a two-lap battle for bragging rights in both riders' hometown of Durango, Colorado.
The Centennial Park track has a classic sprint before the sprint. The only person I can remember ever coming from second position in a sprint after hitting the tarmac is Marianne Vos in the 2022 Cyclocross World Championships. For everyone else, the goal is to be the first to enter Stonehenge—the spirally finishing turns that funnel riders into a steep banked turn before the paved finish. Blevins and Amos know this, which meant the race for the finish line happened somewhere before the tech zone, and Blevins was faster, as he entered the stoneworks first. Amos put up a good fight and was on Blevins' wheel to give the sprint a go, but Blevins had the few feet he needed to make it stick and take the victory.
In the men's U23 race, Zorak Paille (Pivot Cycles-OTE) earned the win. Noah Ramsay (Bateman's Bicycle Company) and Jack Spranger (Bear National Team) followed him across the line. Marin Lowe won the women's U23 race with Kellie Harrington (Bear National Team) in second and Jocelyn Stel in third.
Nicholas Konecny (Bear National Team) won the men's junior race, with Henry Coote (Competitive Edge Racing) in second and Luke Mosteller (Bear National Team) in third. Rafaelle Carrier (Pivot Cycles-OTE) won the women's junior race with Bear National Team teammates Vida Lopez de San Ramon in second and Ingrid McElroy in third.
Next up in Fayetteville is a full slate of UCI XCC short track racing and a standalone UCI HC U23 men's race that was added at the last minute to the schedule to allow riders like Amos to race both the U23 and elite HC events. The elite HC event is on Saturday. No similar concessions were made for the women's field.
