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.”