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BC Bike Race roars back with all-star cast and new venue

L'Esperance and Arseneault lead after Day 1 in Penticton, B.C .

2021 BCBR Day 1 Photo by: Dave Silver

It’s been 26 months since the last edition of BC Bike Race, but the classic Canadian mountain bike stage race is back. To celebrate, there’s an all-star crew of riders, from Canada and around the world, and a brand new venue in the Okanagan.

Andrew L’Esperance and Laurie Arseneault lead the race after the 36 km in Penticton’s Three Blind Mice trail network. In the team category, Emily Batty and Adam Morka jumped out to an early lead. It’s just day one, but there’s already been plenty of excitement.

New venue, new rules

2021 is the first time BC Bike Race is venturing away from it’s roots on Canada’s west coast. The move inland is already delivering excellent racing, if slightly different conditions. Lake views replaced ocean views. Loose corners and dry rock replace wet roots and slick coastal trails. Other things haven’t changed. As all have come to expect from BCBR, the first stage was filled with challenging singletrack that pushed riders fitness and technical abilities on the bike.

To keep everything safe, Day 1 followed a slightly different race format than the usual mass start affair. Racers rolled into a neutral start in waves of 25, spreading out well before the official timing started as the race entered singletrack. Safety can be fun – especially if it means being allowed to hold races again – and the new format quickly showed it has advantages beyond safety. The neutral start acted as a forced warm up, and allowed riders to spread out gradually, and cordially, without the usual elbows and jostling for position. A neutral ride back from singletrack to the start-finish area acted as a forced cool down, and opportunity to talk with the racers you just chased through the woods for a few hours, too. It didn’t hurt that the neutral section had lake views, rolling along the rail-grade Kettle Valley Railway (KVR).

Arseneault and L’Esperance lead after Day 1

While there are several returning BCBR champions on the start list this year, the new venue, and the addition of several current World Cup racers, quickly shook up the standings. Numerous flats from pre-race favourites, including Geoff Kabush, Cory Wallace and Karsten Madsen (the latter two are doubling up after their podiums at BC Gravel Explorer last week), will surely have some riders questioning equipment choices going into Monday’s racing.

Andrew L’Esperance (Norco Factory Team) leads the Open Men’s race, with a 2:16 advantage to 2019 BCBR champion Felix Burke (Rocky Mountain). Hot off World Cup finals in Snowshoe, L’Esperance rode solo off the front early and held that advantage throughout the race. Behind, Felix Burke and Carter Nieuwesteeg (Santa Cruz) chased, avoiding the mechanical difficulties of their competitors.

On the women’s side, Laurie Arseneault (Canyon Racing) jumped out to a sold 3:20 lead on Day 1. Arseneault leads the women with a stage-winning time that was good for 13th overall. Haley Smith (Norco Factory Team) follows in second, with Katelyn Button (Coast Physiotherapy Sechelt) in third.

The Team of 2 category is divided into men’s, women’s and mixed. It’s currently the husband-wife duo of Emily Batty and Adam Morka with the fastest team time, across categories as well as in their Mixed team category.

There’s still six race stages spread out over five big days of racing in the Okanagan. As Day 1 showed, the smooth corners and scenic stretches of slabs are hiding tire-slicing rocks. Legs and tires still have a long way to go before reaching the finish line on Friday.