With their legs still heavy from two days of racing in the Victoria area, riders competing in this year's Cowichan leg of the BC Bike Race were met with 47.7 kilometers and 1,369 metres split between the iconic trails of Mount Tzouhalem and Maple Mountain on Day 3, Wednesday, June 3.
Organizers called the Cowichan leg "a Dual Mountain Extravaganza" and an "amazing circumnavigation of the Cowichan Valley’s finest" while hyping the Crofton-to-Mount Tzouhalem-and-back route's pastoral lands, the epic hand built “A Grand Traverse”, Tzouhalem's “Double D” and “Bumble Bee” and the legendary “Story Trail” and “Xylem” tracks and the infamous “Maple Syrup” descent of Maple Mountain.
"It's so awesome to be able to host such a world famous race here each year," said North Cowichan Councillor Chris Istace, himself an avid rider. "[I was] grateful to welcome all the athletes [Wednesday] morning and then watch the Stage 3 elite first wave roll-out which was made up of some notable Olympians, Canadian Champions and World Champions tackling the BC Bike Race. [It's] great to see elite level sports occurring in Municipality of North Cowichan and that we are able to support Sports Tourism events like this."
Istace said the races featured "loads of amateurs racing and so many international riders and non-competitive racers coming as bucket list experience B.C. mountain biking trips."
For some it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ride Cowichan's famous trails, for others like world-class rider Evan Russell of Mill Bay, it was a chance to race close to home. Russell finished 12th overall in both the Cowichan leg and in the series as a whole.
The winners were also world-class athletes.
The 2018 and 2019 Pan American gold medallist, Maghalie Rochette of Quebec, found herself in a battle with 2019 US National Championship silver medallist Evelyn Dong, not just for the third stage but for the overall series. Rochette held off the American to win the Cowichan leg and maintain a slight overall lead on the women's side.
Mechanical issues with her bike forced Rochette into sixth place in Stage 4 on July 4 on Mount Benson in Nanaimo and second overall. Olympians Haley Smith of Ontario, and Catharine Pendrel of New Brunswick, who placed third and fifth in both the Cowichan and Nanaimo stages respectively, rounded out the top four women overall after four stages, with Czech Olympian Katerina Nash joining the fold after a third place finish on Stage 5 in Cumberland.
After Stages 6 and 7 in Campbell River and Cumberland respectively, Rochette managed to hang on to the top overall spot, winning the 2024 BC Bike Race by just over three minutes while Dong, Smith, Nash, and Pendrel rounded out the Top 5 overall.
On the men's side, Maxxis Factory Racing teammates Sean Fincham, of Squamish, and Andrew L'Esperance, of Halifax, held off all comers, with World Cup-level racer Quinton Disera, riding to third, just ahead of Canadian Olympians Peter Disera (Quinton's older brother), and Tyler Clark, all from Ontario, as well as Canadian mountain biking legend Geoff Kabush, of Comox.
The same six racers in the same order led the overall standings after the fourth stage, held in Nanaimo and were all in the Top 6 once more after Stage 5 in Cumberland.
Following the final two stages it was Fincham on top with L'Esperance, Peter Disera, Clark and Quinton rounding out the Top 5 overall.
