Maghalie Rochette and Sean Fincham lead as hotly contested BC Bike Race heads north

BC Bike Race kicked off its 18th year in grand fashion by returning to Victoria, B.C., the place where it all began, for the first time since 2007. The first three days of racing have suited such an occasion, with deep fields in the men’s and women’s races holding no punches and constantly trading leads.

Maghalie Rochette leads BCBR return

On the women’s side, multi-time Olympian and World Cup winner, and defending BCBR champion, Katerina Nash started hot. Nash won a short Prologue on the old-school trails of Victoria’s Hartland trail network. Last year’s runner up, Evelyn Dong, followed close behind.

On Day 2, though, it was Maghalie Rochette joining forces with Dong to put the pressure on Nash. The first full day of racing also led to the first change in the overall lead. Dong, runner-up in last year’s BCBR, led through a classic mix of Victoria tech and South Island Mountain Bike Society’s (SIMBS) more recent work to take the stage win and the leader’s jersey. Rochette, though, moved up the standings into second.

On Day 3, Cowichan Valley served up a big double header. Two mountains, Tzouhalem and Maple, were connected by a brief neutralized transition. That led to some interesting race tactics in both fields. Rochette earned an advantage even before the field launched up Tzouhalem, using her cyclocross chops to distance the rest of the women through a farmer’s field BCBR used to access the mountain from the start finish area.

It’s kind of funny, I got away on the farm field,” Rochette recounted after the finish. “I spend a whole lot of time riding in farm fields in Belgium, and that’s where I got away.”

When the race neutralized at the bottom of Tzouhalem, the Canadian allowed the women’s field to regather before they crossed the timing mat to start up the day’s second challenge: Maple Mountain.

“I really questioned myself on the neutral part. But it felt right to wait for the women and start together, so that’s what I did.”

Rochette again found herself riding with Evelyn Dong for the majority of the ascent, very technical descent, and rolling finish to Maple Mountain. She was only add a handful of seconds to the lead she earned earlier in the day on Tzou. But it was enough to take over the lead from Dong as BCBR heads north to Nanaimo for Day 4.

Maxxis Factory Racing versus the world

On the men’s side, there are races within races. Maxxis Factory Racing’s duo of Sean Fincham and defending BCBR champion Andrew L’Esperance sit one-two after three days of racing. L’Esperance took an early advantage in the prologue only to hand over the leader’s jersey to Fincham on Day 2. The teammates seem to be mixing inter- and intra-squad racing as they vie for the lead among each other and try to fend off the rest of a very strong BCBR field.

On Day 2, that challenge came from Ontario’s Tyler Clark. The Armada racer sat third wheel as the two Maxxis racers traded turns at the front.

“They seemed to be fighting against each other as much as anyone else. I just hung back and followed lines,” Clark said after the stage. “A few times the trail split up, I just watched which line was faster and followed that, so I kind of got a bit of an advantage there.”

On Day 3, it was Quinton Disera taking up the challenge of unseating the leading teammates. On Tzou, he successfully got ahead of L’Esperance to finish on the same time as Fincham.

“I was feeling good, so I ended up closing the gap down to L’Espy up at the top and passing him just before Double D, then caught Sean on the downhill,” Disera said of how the race unfolded adding, with a bit of a laugh, “I wanted to have a better time than him on the timed DH so I passed him on the line.”

As the group rolled into an aid station in the neutralized transfer to Maple, tactics started to get interesting. Quinton and his brother Peter Disera stopped to refuel. The rest, a group of six including the two leaders, kept rolling.

“That’s where it went kind of funny. I stopped to get reorganized and the other four top guys just kept going and I was alone with Peter. I basically rode the whole second half alone, in no man’s land. It was interesting. you don’t really know how hard they’re going. It’s not wheel-to-wheel racing”

2024 BC Bike Race: Day 3 overall standings