ELANCOURT, France – As defending champion Thomas Pidcock of Great Britain churned up the Olympic men’s mountain biking course at Elancourt Hill in France, riding like a madman to get back into the lead, he didn’t have the devil behind him.
It was Durango’s Riley Amos.
If Americans need reassurance that their first medal in the sport will be soon in coming, they need to look no further than the results of Amos and fellow Durangoan Christopher Blevins on Monday in the Paris 2024 men’s Olympic mountain biking race.
Blevins, 26, recovered from a flat tire in the early laps to finish 13th in the 36-man field. That was a one-spot improvement over his Tokyo Olympics performance where he didn’t encounter such a setback.
Meanwhile Amos, making his Olympic debut at age 22, proved he could keep pace with athletes like Pidcock, who grabbed the gold medal. His seventh-place finish goes down as the best Olympic result ever for an American man. Todd Wells, Amos’ first pro coach, previously set the standard with a 10th-place finish at the 2012 London Games.
“There’s always been history at the Olympics,” Amos said, choking up over the enormity of his accomplishment. “So, to do that at 22 and have my absolute legends of the sport, Todd Wells and Chris (Blevins), be my mentors the past couple years and learn from them and move forward is a huge step for U.S. Mountain Biking. So, I’m thrilled.”
Amos may have been something of a mystery to many of the riders because he had not competed in a single UCI World Cup elite-level race. Instead, he has been ripping through the U23 circuit, winning all but one of eight World Cup races this season. He gained valuable UCI points along the way and his resulting spot on the front row of the Olympic race – reserved for the top eight riders – may have tipped off some of the other racers to his talents.
If not, his ascension to the front of the pack for the first half lap or so of the race surely did.
“I got swarmed really hard in the first two laps. Like, so aggressive, a super intro to racing with the big guys,” he said. “But at the same time, I definitely proved I’m competitive and really anything can happen on race day, and I just tried to slowly tick forward, rider after rider.”
“I’m just so thankful to be here,” he added. “It’s amazing.”
For a couple of laps early in the race, the Durango contingent raced if not with each other then just a few wheels away from each other toward the back of the lead group. The plan, Blevins said, was to conserve energy while staying within striking distance if an opportunity to move to the front presented itself.
Feeling like he had more to give, though, Blevins moved in for a closer look at the leaders just before the start of the fourth lap of the eight-lap, roughly 21½-mile race. What he saw didn’t let the air out of his tire, but a puncture did.
Blevins rode about half the course on the soft tire before reaching the area where racers are allowed to get mechanical help. The damage, though, had been done.
“On top of the flat, you use that anaerobic faster in trying to come back to the group,” USA Cycling sports director Jim Miller said. “And then you don’t have the turbo button to press anymore.”
Blevins kept pushing, though, and climbed at least three spots in the standings through attrition.
“It was a really tall order to get (back into contention),” Blevins said. “I would have had to have near-magic legs, and I didn’t have those.”
Pidcock had a pair, though.
He was probably hoping to save them for next weekend’s men’s road race, where he will also represent Team GB. But Monday, he needed to tap into them for the mountain bike win.
Pidcock punctured his front tire on the fourth lap, just like Blevins. One big difference, though, was that Pidcock’s happened just as he was entering the assistance area. Even though it took his mechanics a moment to realize their rider needed a repair, they had him back on the course in seconds. He never even dropped out of the top eight.
One of the first riders Pidcock, 25, came across as he rocketed back into medal contention was Amos. He said he had no illusions of being able to keep pace with the Renaissance cyclist who has won cyclocross titles and a stage of the 2022 Tour de France.
“I definitely wasn’t trying to follow his wheel,” Amos said. “But it’s pretty cool to be in the mix with all those guys. I just had a smile on my face when I was on the wheel of a legend.”
Pidcock returned to the lead pack with two laps to go. After battling with France’s Victor Koretzky nearly to the end – including a controversial clashing of tires as Pidcock passed on the final rocky section – the Brit seized the victory. He became just the third mountain biker to win back-to-back gold medals since the sport was added to the Olympic program in 1996.
Koretzky secured the silver to the delight of thousands of French fans lining the course. Just two seconds behind him, South Africa’s Alan Hatherly became the first athlete from an African country to medal at an Olympic cycling event.
They did it in 90-degree heat.
Thrilled with his result, Amos said he sees a bright future for the USA men’s mountain biking team. Frustrated with his, Blevins has the same outlook. Both said they plan to be in Los Angeles in 2028, but maybe this time they’ll be the guy to bring home the country’s first medal.
“Giving everything at the Olympics is the goal, and I think I accomplished that,” Blevins said. “Obviously, I’m a bit disappointed to not be able to fight for the front positions. But that’s the sport. It’s part of it, and everybody goes through it. And you’ve just got to appreciate the opportunity. And I know I’ll be back.”
Julie Jag is a former sports reporter for The Durango Herald and now works at the Salt Lake Tribune. She is covering the Summer Olympics from Paris.
