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Durango\u2019s dominance in mountain biking gets bigger every year. That was evident last weekend at the second leg of the US Cup series in San Dimas, California.<\/p>\n
Olympian Howard Grotts returned to a U.S. race with the Bonelli Park XC, the second of four stops on this year\u2019s USA Cycling US Cup mountain bike series<\/a>, which offers a $10,000 bonus to the series overall winner for short-track and cross country racing.<\/p>\n Even with Grotts in the field, it was again young Durango phenom Christopher Blevins who stole the show. After finishing third in Saturday\u2019s UCI Pro Men\u2019s division of the cross country race, he won an all-out sprint to the finish line in Sunday\u2019s short-track cross country race to maintain his overall lead in this year\u2019s US Cup standings. He will take that lead into the final two events in July at the Eastern Grind at Catamount in Vermont and the Boston Rebellion in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had the confidence to be up there with those guys, but I did not expect to be able to beat some of them,\u201d Blevins said in a news release. \u201cIt is definitely an honor to be riding with them and competing so well against high competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Blevins has plenty of reason to be confident. He swept both races at the first US Cup stop at Fontana City, California. Weeks earlier, he won two of three races at the Cactus Cup in Arizona to win its overall title. It\u2019s been an impressive leap into the professional ranks for the reigning junior national champion who splits his time between the mountain bike and road bike while also juggling his freshman year at California Polytechnic State University.<\/p>\n Grotts finished second in Saturday\u2019s cross country race and fifth in the short-track. He was in the six-man sprint to the line in short-track and witnessed Blevins\u2019 prowess first-hand.<\/p>\n \u201cI still haven\u2019t figured out how to play the tactics right for that one,\u201d Grotts said of short-track in a post on Instagram<\/a>. \u201cFortunately, (Blevins) timed his race to perfection (and has one heck of a kick) to take the W!\u201d<\/p>\n Blevins finished the short-track race in 20 minutes, 22 seconds. Cameron Ivory of Australia placed second in 20:23, nipping three-time Olympian Todd Wells of Durango in a photo finish. Grotts also crossed in 20:23 along with Durango\u2019s Benjamin Sonntag.<\/p>\n \u201cIt stayed together like a fat tire criterium,\u201d Blevins said. \u201cThere was no separation from any of the attacks, so I used what I know from road racing to position myself well. It was a finish where you have to be on the inside because you run a lot shorter of a line. Fortunately, I was able to get that inside line.\u201d<\/p>\n The third-place finish was a reward in itself for Wells, who struggled with a crash and a few bike problems a week earlier and also battled a tough cross country race Saturday in which he finished 17th.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a much better start and found myself at the front of the big group right from the gun,\u201d Wells said in an email to The Durango Herald. \u201cIt is always a very tactical race there since the course is very fast with no sharp corner to break it up. I stayed out of trouble and managed to position myself perfectly at the front at the top of the last climb. I led out the sprint up the grass hill into a headwind, and Blevins jumped by on the inside to get the win with Cam Ivory piping me at the line in a photo finish. It wasn\u2019t a win, but it felt like it after my rough showing the day before in the XC.\u201d<\/p>\n Also finishing strong for Durango in the short-track race was Payson McElveen in 11th in 20:26. Troy Wells placed 15th in 20:49, Daniel Johnson was 21st in 20:56 and Jacob Sacket placed 29th in 21:35.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s cross country race was all about Grotts and Anton Cooper of New Zealand. The two exchanged leads on the 2.55-mile course, but it was Cooper who won in 1:23:44. Grotts was 10 seconds back, and Blevins finished in 1:26.19.<\/p>\n \u201cHad some fun testing out the XC racing legs and battling with (Cooper),\u201d Grotts wrote. \u201cThe diesel engine was there, but he handedly put me away on the last climb.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooper is an up-and-comer in his own right after winning the 23-and-under world championship two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cI popped off those two partially because I knew I could not keep that pace up for several more laps and partly because I was tired,\u201d Blevins said of Cooper and Grotts.<\/p>\n Sonntag was 14th in the cross country in 1:28:45. He was pleased with his weekend after the sixth in short-track.<\/p>\n