Andrew L’Esperance and Katerina Nash victorious in late-stage BC Bike Race battles

This year’s BC Bike Race promised a return to the classic format, with a travelling tent village and Vancouver Island trails. A deep field of top pros showed up to add their own sensational storylines to the week’s proceedings, making this the most exciting BCBR in recent memory.

Open men: A thrilling three-way race to Cumberland

On the men’s side, Andrew L’Esperance and Peter Disera were finally able to chip away at the lead of New Zealand’s Craig Oliver. The Kiwi had proved near-impossible to shake in the first half of the week but finally, on Day 5 in Cumberland, started to show signs of vulnerability. L’Esperance halved Oliver’s lead on Cumberland’s Queen Stage. The next day, in Campbell River, the two Canadians took turns attacking the leader on the 8km stretch of road that led into the first singletrack. Outnumbered and outgunned, Oliver lost more time. Disera won the stage, but L’Esperance stepped into the leader’s jersey with one stage of racing remaining.

“Yeah, They’re just chipping away at me. They seemed like they were almost on the same page today,” Oliver said after Day 6. “One would go up the road, one wouldn’t chase. The other would go up the road, and the first wouldn’t chase, just trying to work me over. Fair enough, that’s stage racing.”

While L’Esperance started Day 7 in yellow, it was hardly a solid lead. Just 91 seconds separated the top three men. With a big day of racing in Cumberland remaining, anything was possible.

“Racing on this kind of terrain anything can happen. with this much single track, it’s amazing the amount of times that you’re just centimeters from trees and just on the edge of losing traction, all seven days.”

L’Esperance got a little too close to a tree in the final corners of the final stage and went over the bars. That left him chasing Disera to the finish line, bars askew. Disera earned the stage win, but L’Esperance holds on to take his second BC Bike Race title.

“To be honest, winning this version of BCBR is pretty special. It’s on the coast, it’s the original version. That coupled with the fact that we had a really strong field this year, it’s super special. The whole experience was great.”

Katerina Nash and Eva Poidevin take late-race wins

The open women’s race also served up thrilling three-way racing. BC Bike Race past champion, Olympian and World Cup winner Katerina Nash was solidly in control of racing for the first five days. Evelyn Dong and Eva Poidevin pushed the veteran Czech-Californian, but couldn’t break her.

On Stage 6, that changed. After following Nash through Campbell River’s twisting singletrack, The 23-year-old Albertan was the only one of the top three women with the strength to make one final attack when the race hit the gravel road to the finish line. Poidevin earned her first BC Bike Race stage win by nearly a minute.

“Honestly, I was just trying to take it one kilometer at a time. Just get to the next kilometer and hold her wheel, and then get to the next kilometer and I was able to keep doing that,” Poidevin said of how the finale played out. “When it opened up I thought, it’s now or never, I may as well try!”

The next day, back in Cumberland, Poidevin and Dong went on the offensive early. Nash appeared caught out and lost 3.5 minutes. Poidevin sprinted for the win ahead of Dong, taking the top podium step for the second time at this year’s BC Bike Race.

Nash, no stranger to stage racing, knows how to limit her losses. After four years away from Vancouver Island, Katerina Nash earned another BC Bike Race victory.

“You never know until you cross that finish line, right? I don’t mess around, I don’t take it too easy,” Nash said after stepping off the podium. “But I was definitely running out of energy and had to manage the last two days. I believed I still had something in me to win the overall, and it worked out.”

After the final racer crossed the finish line, the celebration of a week of hard racing started. Rock legend Barney Bentall eased tired bodies into the after-party, slowly ramping up to some higher-energy classics over two sets of live music in the BCBR beer garden.

If that sounds like the way you’d like to spend a Sunday afternoon, or a full week on Vancouver Island, registration for the 2024 BC Bike Race opens at 10:00 AM PST on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. This year was nearly at capacity, don’t miss out on your chance to take on the challenge of “The Ultimate Singletrack Experience.”

2023 BC Bike Race – Day 7 Results

Open Men’s Results
Peter Disera – 1:34:38
Andrew L’Esperance – 1:34:55 (+0.17)
Craig Oliver – 1:35:11 (+0.33)

Open Women’s Results
Eva Poidevin – 1:55:17
Evelyn Dong – 1:55:17 (+0.00)
Katerina Nash – 1:58:45 (+3.28)

2023 BC Bike Race – Cumulative Results

Open Men’s Results
Andrew L’Esperance – 10:45:47
Peter Disera – 10:46:29 (+0.42)
Craig Oliver – 10:47:34 (+1.47)

Open Women’s Results
Katerina Nash – 13:07:44
Evelyn Dong – 13:12:58 (+5.14)
Eva Poidevin – 13:20:33 (+12.49)