Day Two of the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships saw the Junior Cross Country races. The Junior Women were the first to race. After the initial lap, Madeline Robbins (Durango, Colo.; Bear Development Team) was fighting for third place while Madigan Munro (Boulder, Colo.; Boulder Junior Cycling) had moved into eighth. After an unfortunate crash on the second half of the first lap, Robbins eventually ended up 26th on the day.
Throughout the rest of the four lap race, Munro found herself in a battle to move up the ranks in the top 10. For the last lap and a half of the race, Munro and Dutch rider, Puck Pieterse. The first year junior, who raced the U23 Cyclocross World Championships earlier this year used her experience as a Cyclocross athlete as well as her power up hills to end the day in 6th place overall and was the first North American to cross the line.
“The last lap was probably the hardest I’ve ever gone, I had to really dig deep,” said Munro of the race, “I was behind a Dutch rider and I managed to get around her when she bobbled on a downhill and I just hopped off my bike and took the B-line and then got back on my bike and left it all out there on the course and went as hard as I could all the way to the finish.”
When asked if she felt her experience as a Cyclocross athlete helped her she said, “[Cyclocross] for sure helped me. Some of those climbs on the switchbacks, just anticipating that ‘OK I’m going to run here and go inside and get around this girl’ really helped. And also I raced Puck last year at ‘Cross Worlds so it was nice to be able to push myself against someone who I knew was really strong.”
The next race to take off was the Junior Men’s race. 2019 National Champion Riley Amos (Durango, Colo.; Bear Junior Development) immediately took to the front and spent the majority of the race fighting for a top position. By the end of lap three, Amos was holding at 7th place and battling with Austrian rider Mario Bair. Going into the final lap, the chain on Amos’ bike snapped. After fixing his chain, Amos continued to charge to regain his position. Amos ended the day in 14th place.
“I’m really proud of how our juniors performed,” said Marc Gullickson, Mountain Bike Performance Director for USA Cycling, “For Maddie [Munro] to come in as a first-year junior and end up sixth on the day says a lot for her future. I know that Riley didn’t have the day he wanted but he is also a first year junior and learned some valuable lessons. Plus, I think he should be very proud coming out of his first World Championships with silver medal in the team relay. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with and help these athletes develop into the next generation of cycling in the U.S.”
Other U.S. Riders Ada Urist (Boulder, Colo.; Boulder Junior Cycling) and Alexis Bobbit (Austin, Tex.; Bear Junior Development) placed 35th and 40th respectively in the Women’s Race while Bjorn Riley, Nolan Jenkins, Robbie Day, and Brennon Peterson placed 26th, 32nd, 44th and 52nd respectively.
Racing continues tomorrow with the Junior and Elite Downhill Qualifications beginning at 11:15 and moves into the U23 Men’s Cross Country Mountain Bike World Championship race where Christopher Blevins (Durango, Colo.; Specialized Factory Racing) will look to best his 2018 Silver Medal.
To watch the 2019 World Championships, head to Redbull.tv or to cheer for Team USA and get up to date info regarding your favorite riders, follow @USACyclingLIVE on Twitter and @USACycling on all other platforms. For more about the 2019 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships, please visit the event website at http://www.velirium.com/.
The USA Cycling 2019 Mountain Bike World Championships selection criteria for XCO is available here
Please contact Kelly Fox with questions at apalermo@usacycling.org
