2025 UCI MTB World Series winner Christopher Blevins (Specialized Factory Racing) reclaimed the elite men’s cross-country Olympic (XCO) national title at the USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike Nationals in Roanoke on Saturday, while Savilia Blunk (Decathlon Ford Racing) took her third elite women’s XCO title.
It was a second title of the week for Blunk, adding to the cross-country short track crown she secured on Thursday. She crossed the line in Roanoke comfortably ahead of Gwendalyn Gibson (Trek-Unbroken) and Crystal Anthony (Flow Formulas/Kenda/The Black Bibs).
In the race, which ran over four laps of the main course with a prologue, Blunk and Gibson were together through the opener but as soon as the main laps were underway Blunk carved out a gap of 50 seconds and then built that to the end.
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“This concludes a five-week back-to-back block of racing,” said Blunk. “I was in Europe for two months, then came straight here. It was a big push to race here on Thursday and today, but it means so much to race in front of a home crowd; it makes it so worth it.
“I’m ready for some rest now, but really proud to wear the jersey in short track and cross-country for the next year.”
In the elite men’s race Blevins, who last won the title in 2023, crossed the line ahead of short track title winner Bjorn Riley (Scott-SRAM MTB) while Riley Amos (Trek-Unbroken) claimed third, stepping up one spot from the short track.
(Image credit: USA Cycling/SnowyMountain Photography)
It was a tighter battle at the start of the men’s race, with eight riders heading out of the prologue and into the first of five main laps, but then defending champion Riley and Blevins quickly got away. Blevins didn’t wait long to make his move, delivering an attack that stuck in the second lap.
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Once away, Blevins maintained control, building his advantage and riding solo to the line.
“It was a super hard race, I knew I would have to go super deep to beat Bjorn [Riley] and Riley [Amos], who are two of the top ten riders in the World Cup field, along with myself last weekend in Andorra.” said Blevins.
“I think the level of U.S. Men’s mountain biking is just going to skyrocket these next two years up until the LA Olympics, with the Durango World Champs after that. So, I’m just really excited to be finding my form at this point after an injury earlier this season.”
Riley comfortably held firm for second while Amos broke away from Ivan Sippy (Team Segment 28 p/b Baird) on lap four to secure the podium spot.
Dan English (Trinity Racing) and Greta Kilburn (Bicycle Express Racing) won the U23 titles, while in the Junior 17-18 category Scout Wellmeier (Bear National Team) and Noah Scholnick (Bear National Team) claimed the victories.
