Women’s elite UCI cross country mountain bike riders take off during the final race at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, Oct. 5. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — This weekend’s Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike World Series races wrapped up at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, Oct. 5 with back-to-back competitions in the men’s and women’s elite divisions’ cross-country Olympic World Cup.

American Christopher Blevins and Jenny Rissveds of Sweden recorded weekend doubles as they won the Cross-country Olympic disciplines at the UCI World Cup in Lake Placid. Both riders won the UCI Cross-country Short Track on Oct. 3 and won the XCO on Oct. 5.

However, for Rissveds, the last race of the weekend happened to be her most dominant one. The Swedish rider, who won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2024 Games, pulled clear on the first lap and established an unassailable margin to secure the victory more than two minutes ahead of the runner-up.

Rissveds, who declined to speak to the News on Oct. 5, cleared the course in 1 hour, 20 minutes, 15 seconds. Last year, she placed seventh in this Lake Placid race.

“The most important thing is to be healthy,” she said in a statement. “I’ve realised it’s very important to enjoy the journey. You’re going to have hard moments too, but it’s OK. Trying to do sport in a sustainable way is important.”

American Christopher Blevins competes in the men’s elite UCI cross country mountain bike race at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Sunday, Oct. 5. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

Great Britain’s Evie Richards placed second in the women’s race, while New Zealand’s Sammie Maxwell crossed the finish line in third. Meanwhile, Savilia Blunk of Santa Rosa, California, finished a few seconds behind in fourth. Blunk had been in contention for a podium spot throughout most of the race, but just couldn’t catch Richards and Maxwell on the final stretch.

Blunk said at one point, she was trying to close the gap on Rissveds and push for the top spot, but realized she couldn’t do it all in one lap.

“I tried to kind of hold back and be patient,” she said. “Just stay with the group, and it was just a game of being really patient. It was hard. It’s just really fast and (there’s) limited recovery on this course. The climbs are short, and everything else is really high speed and power. It was so dry, the descents were loose and got a little squirrely out there, but I kept it upright. So, in the end, it was really, really tight with Sammie coming back to us. And, yeah, it was an exciting race.”

When Blunk raced in this competition last year, she took a big lead, but was soon caught by some of the other riders. She ultimately dropped to sixth place overall then.

“So learning from last year, I really learned that I need to be patient in the beginning, which was hard because Jenny had a gap and I had to shoot my shot, so I went for it,” Blunk said. “But then I knew immediately, if I couldn’t close it, then I needed to wait.”

While Blunk’s goal was obviously to win, she acknowledged that Rissveds was just on another level.

“I mean, top five in front of the home crowd was awesome,” she said. “I’m feeling pretty good and just really excited for Mont-Sainte-Anne (in Quebec next week), I love that course too. There’s a lot more technicality to it, so there are more opportunities to separate the field. We’ve just got one more race.”

Besides Blunk, the other American women’s riders on Oct. 5 included Kelsey Urban in 12th, Gwendalyn Gibson in 15th, Madigan Munro in 17th and Kate Courtney in 18th. Kimberly Milton, who did not finish the race, placed 43rd.

Blevins was at the forefront for most of the men’s race and exposed weaknesses in his opponents with a penultimate lap attack, which reduced the leading group to five riders. However, the race pace slowed again as riders took the bell, allowing several riders to get back into contention, including his Specialized Factory Racing teammate Adrien Boichis.

Coming into the finish, Blevins led out the sprint and had enough power to fend off Boichis, while Mathis Azzaro finished just two seconds behind in third.

“It was all on instinct, it was very narrow and each lap I was in a good space,” Blevins said in a statement. “I controlled the race from the front. I knew Adrien would make that attack on the last lap and it would be really hard.”

With it, Blevins became the first American male elite rider since 1991 to win the overall XCO title. The victory ended a drought for Blevins, who hadn’t won a UCI XCO World Cup since May.

“I had to believe in myself again,” he said. “You have to show up with what you have every weekend, regardless of if you think you have it or not. You have got to come back to ground zero and start afresh. I’ve had a big dip in the middle of the year and I’m just grateful to be finishing strong.”

The other U.S. men’s riders were Riley Amos in 11th, Bjorn Riley in 14th, Robbie Day in 54th and Devon Feehan in 62nd.

In the Under 23 categories, Finn Treudler also achieved a weekend double after riding clear of the men’s field, while Vida Lopez De San Roman clinched an exciting victory in the women’s race.

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Downhill at Whiteface

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With the parking lots filled and cars lined up along the shoulders of state Route 86, as spectators waited to get to Whiteface Mountain on Oct. 4, Valentina Holl rose to the occasion, winning her first UCI Downhill World Cup of the season at the venue. Meanwhile, Luke Meier-Smith claimed his first-ever men’s elite UCI Downhill World Cup victory and denied American Luca Shaw a home celebration.

The events marked the first-ever UCI Downhill World Cup race at Whiteface Mountain. Last year, Lake Placid hosted just the cross country World Cup.

Holl became the UCI Downhill World Champion last month, but it’s been 474 days since her last UCI World Cup win. The Austrian had a solid weekend, and victory earned her a fourth overall UCI World Cup title and third consecutive success, with a round remaining.

The men’s elite year-end overall title will go down to the final round with Loic Bruni and Jackson Goldstone locked in an enthralling battle after both finishing off the podium.

Max Alran was dominant in the men’s junior downhill category. He set a winning time of 3:06.5, which was only beaten by men’s elite winner Meier-Smith. Meanwhile, Aletha Ostgaard gave America a victory to celebrate in the women’s junior category.