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BC Cup Virtual Race Final & Overall Series Winners

The inaugural BC Cup Virtual Race Series presented by Cobotix wrapped up on Saturday, May 1st, with the 72-kilometre Mt. Sequoyah road race simulating one of the early stages of the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

With four separate start times across the various categories, the day started with the Cat4 group where Shane Alfreds (Lake City Cycling Club), Ian Walker, and Jimmy Archange have battled back and forth, week after week, throughout the series. In the end, it would be Alfreds who won the day, with Ian Walker finishing 2nd, and Jimmy Archange in 3rd. That is also the exact order in which the overall Cat4 standings would settle after four races. 

The Cat 3 and Cat 2 fields got off to a sadistic start out of the gate with the groups managing to keep it together for the first few kilometres. It wasn’t until the first climb on the course where we would see a clear separation between the riders. 

Vaughn Richards and Michael Matthews (Gastown Cycling Association) went tit for tat during the Cat 3 race with Richards eventually distancing himself at the 3km-to-go mark and crossing the finish line first. Matthews would follow in 2nd and Brian Vandergriend in 3rd. The final series rankings for the Cat 3 group concluded with Matthews in 1st, Vandegriend 2nd, and Bart Gould (Steed Cycles) 3rd.

In the Cat 2 group, it was 25-year-old Nicholas Ridenour (Full Greens) who finished 1st ahead of Vince Geisler (trinerds) in 2nd, chased by Brett Boniface in 3rd. Geisler’s 2nd place finish earned him enough points to claim the overall series win in Cat2, with Taylor McColl in 2nd, and Luke Hubner (Capital City Racing) in 3rd.  

Jacqueline Godbe (xXx Racing-Athletico) continued to dominate in the final race and put an exclamation point on a perfect series, claiming her fourth win out of four races and decisively taking the Women’s Pro/Cat 1 overall BC Cup series title. The race for 2nd and 3rd place in the final was one of the most exciting finishes we have seen all series as young Nadia Gontova and veteran Claire Cameron (Pickle Juice Pro Cycling) went head to head in a sprint finish. Racing side by side for most of the race, the two decided to put it all out on the course with about 200m to go and it was Cameron who successfully surged for 2nd, leaving Gontova to settle for 3rd on the day. That is also precisely the order in which the overall series would end up for the Pro/Cat 1 Women’s field. 

The final race of the day saw a display of virtual racing tactics in the Pro/Cat 1 Men’s field with Matt Usborne (Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Bike World) and Bruce Bird (Draft) playing cat and mouse in the last few kilometres. With less than 2km to go, both riders put out an incredible effort to get away but it was Usborne who would ride to a solo finish, cementing the win in the final and claiming the overall BC Cup virtual race series win. Bruce Bird and Carsten Ivany (Giant Vancouver) finished the final race and the overall series in 2nd and 3rd respectively.  With the win, Usborne becomes the first person ever to have a BC Cup overall series win in real life and in the virtual racing world.

As the series comes to a close, Cycling BC would like to thank Cobotix for their ongoing support of the BC Cup and a special thanks to Echelon Racing Promotions for delivering a fantastic virtual race experience for everybody. Kudos to Brad Sohner and Ryan Cousineau for keeping us all thoroughly entertained during the live broadcasts and TLBVelo Photography (Tammy Brimner) for her top-level, award-winning virtual race photography. 

The BC Cup Virtual Race series was created to help keep the cycling community connected, motivated, and engaged during what is hopefully the last wave of the pandemic in BC. We hope that it provided everyone something to look forward to while we wait for a return to in-real-life events. We hope to continue delivering valuable and innovative experiences for the cycling community in the future.

2021 BC Cup Virtual Race Series Results – Race #4 (Mt. Sequoyah RR), Saturday, May 1st

Pro / Cat 1 Men
1st Matt Usborne (Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Bike World)
2nd Bruce Bird (Draft)
3rd Carsten Ivany (Giant Vancouver)

Pro / Cat 1 Women
1st Jacqueline Godbe (xXx Racing-Athletico)
2nd Claire Cameron (Pickle Juice Pro Cycling)
3rd Nadia Gontova

Amateur Cat 2
1st Nicholas Ridenour (Full Greens)
2nd Vince Geisler (trinerds)
3rd Brett Boniface

Amateur Cat 3
1st Vaughn Richards
2nd Michael Matthews (Gastown Cycling Association)
3rd Brian Vandegriend

Amateur Cat 4
1st Shane alfreds (Lake City Cycling Club)
2nd Ian Walker
3rd Jimmy Archange

Full results available here: https://rgtdb.com/Results

Final Series Rankings

Pro / Cat 1 Men
1st Matt Usborne (Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Bike World)
2nd Bruce Bird (Draft)
3rd Carsten Ivany (Giant Vancouver)

Pro / Cat 1 Women
1st Jacqueline Godbe (xXx Racing-Athletico)
2nd Claire Cameron (Pickle Juice Pro Cycling)
3rd Nadia Gontova

Amateur Cat 2
1st Vince Geisler (trinerds)
2nd Taylor McColl
3rd Luke Hubner (Capital City Racing)

Amateur Cat 3
1st Michael Matthews (Gastown Cycling Association)
2nd Brian Vandegriend
3rd Bart Gould (Steed Cycles)

Amateur Cat 4
1st Shane Alfreds (Lake City Cycling Club)
2nd Ian Walker
3rd Jimmy Archange

Full results:

Pro: https://rgtdb.com/series/virtual-bc-cup-pro
Amateur: https://rgtdb.com/series/virtual-bc-cup

Video Replay: 

Photos by TLBVelo Photography | View the Photo Gallery

BC Cup Virtual Series website: cyclingbc.net/virtualbccup