Photos for this article were graciously provided by Philip Beckman of PB Creative.įull Results are included below. Over two minute separated these top five racers. Needless to say, the El Niño effect made for some highly entertaining conditions and terrific racing action.Įlite Men's Podium (l-r): Nicola Rohrbach (Goldwurst-Power/Felt), Raphael Gagne (Cannondale 360Fly), Simon Andreassen (Specialized Factory Racing), Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox), Leandre Bouchard (Cyclone D'Alma). The soil in certain sections of the course could have been mistaken for thick pancake batter mixed with sand. On the men's side, rising star Simon Andreassen of Denmark (Specialized Factory Racing) would take a commanding victory over Canada's Raphael Gagne (Cannondale 360 Fly), followed by Geoff Kabush (Scott-3Rox) in third.ĭark clouds spat an increasingly heavy rain throughout the day on Saturday, turning the course into a slippery mess more reminiscent of a cyclocross race than a springtime mountain bike race in SoCal.

On the women's side, Italian superstar Eva Lechner (Luna Pro Team) would take the win by just a second over a hard-charging Emily Batty (Trek Factory Racing Team), with perennial star Katerina Nash (Luna Pro Team) claiming the bronze. After that, the XC World Cup kicks off in Cairns, Australia.įor 2016, 104 elite men and 44 elite women filled the starting boxes on a very damp infield. This year, the Bonelli US Cup occurred on the heels of last week's Pro XCT Round 2 at Fontana, and a week before the perennial cycling industry mega-show, the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA. For the last three years, the US Cup has drawn savagely competitive international fields, including the world's top racers from six continents.

The US Cup, presented by Ridebiker, is a four-event series incorporated within the larger US ProXCT Series, and offers the highest category (by UCI ranking, anyway) of cross country competition in the Americas. As an unsettled weather pattern moved into the Greater Los Angeles area on the weekend of April 9th and 10th, so did an international tribe of cross country racers ready to compete in the acclaimed Bonelli Park US Cup in San Dimas, CA.

Marc Antoine torrent