Riley Amos (USA) may not have earned a medal at the men’s cross-country mountain bike event at the Paris Olympic Games, but his effort among legends of the sport became a legendary game-changer all the same for the 22-year-old.
A seventh-place finish was the best-ever finish for a male US rider in the 28-year history of XCO in the Olympic Games. His compatriot Haley Batten secured the silver medal in the women's cross-country race the previous day.
Amos said all his emotions came out when a USA Cycling representative told him just after the finish that he had the best result to date in the Olympics of any man in the cross-country race from his country.
“To do that at 22, and have my absolute legends of the sport, Todd Wells, Chris [Blevins], be my mentors for the past couple years and learn from them and move forward, is a huge step for US mountain biking. So thrilled,” Amos said as he choked back tears of joy.
Amos started fast and was the first rider at the front of the race on the opening lap. On the second of the seven long laps, he rode ninth across the line just four seconds behind a trio of favourites - Mathias Flückiger (Switzerland), defending Olympic champion Tom Pidcock (Great Britain) and Victor Koretzky (France). Also in the mix were serious veterans, including current World Cup leader Alan Hatherly (South Africa) and 10-time XCO world champion Nino Schurter (Switzerland).
But across the ensuing circuits, Pidcock was the one who chipped away at the deficit to overtake the Frenchman and become a two-time Olympic champion. The young American held steady and took up a fight against Samuel Gaze for a spot just outside the top five, Gaze taking sixth by five seconds in the final sprint.
“It was pretty cool to be in the mix with all those guys. The last two laps, working with Sam [Gaze] to try and move forward was just unreal, because I didn't know I could ride those guys. So to prove that I'm on track to be able to be competitive with them in the future, first go [at the Olympics], being able to be in the top 10 is just beyond expectation.”
Although making his first start at the Olympic Games, Amos was no rookie to international competition. Last year, he placed fourth in the U23 Mountain Bike World Championships, and this year, he came into Paris on a World Cup winning streak of five U23 XCO events. His first big win as an elite was at the Pan-American Championships in May, held in Midway, Utah.
“I think it's really hard to make that jump from under-23 to elite. And that we've seen in the past, guys that are destroying U23 go to elite and really struggle. So my goal is to just be able to make that jump consistently. And like I said, I was racing with legends today, and that was the best part of the whole year.”
From the start line at Elancourt Hill there were two sweeping turns that led directly to a short, stiff climb, all of the track in that area on a groomed, gravel surface. Amos came out with a scorching pace to find a good line at the front.
“I knew that start was terrifying. Those two corners were so loose. I just got off the [start] line as quick as I could, and then tried to just ride my own pace,” he said in the mix zone afterwards about his explosive start.
“Yeah, you saw me get swarmed pretty hard, but I was OK with it. I just had to, really, ride my own race and be cognitive of where I am right now. And so I rode the absolute best I could with what I had today. So just had to not listen to all the noise of everybody else around me and keep charging forward bit by bit.”
By lap 4, he had worked his way up to seventh overall and was passed by Pidcock, who had been at the front of the race but lost a huge chunk of time when he stopped for a wheel change from a puncture, and his team took 10 extra seconds to make the unexpected swap. The Briton jumped back into the race and closed down 20 seconds to Amos by the end of that lap and the two rode together with 34 seconds to close to Koretzky, who was now in command as the solo leader.
“He was riding my wheel, and he was trying to squeeze through. And I was just kind of like, I know he’ll come when he can come. Yeah, I definitely wasn't trying to follow his wheel. I just had a smile on my face when I was on the wheel of legend,” Amos said with a short laugh about Pidcock overtaking him mid-way through the race.
“He's Olympic champion. Trying to climb with him is pretty indescribable. Like when he gets out of saddle and goes, he just goes. It's unbelievable.”
The 22-year-old lives and trains in Durango, Colorado, alongside Olympic teammate Christopher Blevins, who finished 13th on Monday, one spot better than Tokyo.
“I knew I needed to just hide from the front as much as I could but be ready to make the split when it counted. I noticed my tire was low coming through the feed zone and decided to change it. I also had some suspension issues so it kind of derailed the plan. I tried to stay in the rhythm but unfortunately fell out of it a bit. I did my best the last couple of laps,” he said in a USA Cycling statement.
On the World Cup circuit, Blevins was ranked eighth overall, starting the year with a win in Brazil at Mairiporã. There are two rounds of the World Cup remaining for XCO, one at Lake Placid, New York in late September, followed by Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec in early October.
“It’s just different,” Amos said about the Olympic course, constructed on a former landfill sight with a lot of wide, twisting trails through forested terrain, a few rock features on the descents and a major climb to the top.
“You know, I think it doesn't really reflect the trend of most of the World Cups, but it's super challenging its own way. It was really fast, a lot more on the on the pedals, steady than most people realize. But I really liked it.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games - including breaking news and analysis reported by our journalists on the ground from every event across road, mountain bike, track and BMX racing as it happens and more. Find out more.
