After a thrilling week of racing, the final seven-day BC Bike Race wrapped up with a 44-km day on Maple Mountain. Two new winners were crowned, history was made, high fives were given and more of the future of BC Bike Race was revealed.

On the men’s side, Nino Schurter withstood one more day of fending off feisty locals on unfamiliar trails, helped by a crash from Peter Disera. On the women’s side, one more big push up Maple Mountain failed to split the field, so the top three celebrated a week on bikes.

Photo: Dave Silver
Schurter breaks a long-standing BCBR record

Nino Schurter has an endless list of records to his name. 10 world championships titles, the most World Cup wins ever, more World Cup titles, Cape Epic wins, and more. Amongst all that glitter, his win Friday at BC Bike Race still stands out. Schurter becomes the first European to win BC Bike Race. Over 20 years, many have tried. But the men’s title has never crossed the Atlantic. Even in “retirement,” the G.O.A.T. is still setting records.  The local’s advantage, Schurter said, was not to be underestimated.

“It was difficult, actually. Some of these trails have lines where, if you don’t know the trail, you don’t know where the fastest line is. It was a challenge going up against the locals that know the trails when I don’t, but it was a good challenge,” Schurter said, adding BCBR isn’t the same as other stage races. “It’s different racing, it’s so much more technical riding. That’s what I’m looking for now, to do stuff like this that’s really cool. The best riding in the world!” 

What brought the G.O.A.T. to B.C.?

“I always heard good stories from this race and during my career I always enjoyed the technical riding, so I thought this is a race always on my bucket list. It’s my first year of retirement from World Cup racing so I took the opportunity and it was a blast!” 

Not hard to see how Max won the Fox DH challenge. Photo: Dave Silver
Canucks push Schurter on home turf

Schurter was challenged by a trio of Canadians. Peter Disera pushed the Swiss rider to sprints all week, winning three of them. Carter Nieuwesteeg quietly held onto the lead duo for much of the week, then rolled across the line in third. Vancouver Island local Max McCulloch used his descending prowess to stay in the race all week, fending off a challenge from two Californian pros, Tobin Ortenblad and Justin Peck, to hold fourth overall and, in the process, win the Fox DH title for the week.

For Disera, the final stage was bittersweet. A clip of the handlebars sent the multi-time Canadian national champ into the shrubbery where a root ball stopped him in his tracks. While going from race pace to a dead stop hurts, Disera said the lost opportunity to race with Shcurter hurt more.

“That’s the part that actually hurts. I was excited to have a good go at it. Bringing back 45 seconds on Schurter’s just not going to happen, but I was excited to try.”

Still, second behind Schurter is not a bad result. Even Disera has to admit that.

“I have no business doing what I did for the first four days. It was pretty cool to have half of the week be competitive.”

Ruth Holcomb flowing down Maple Syrup. Photo: Dave Silver
Ruth Holcomb tames BC Bike Race

On the women’s side, Ruth Holcomb proved she’s a serious threat on two wheels of any kind. Taking a little side trip from her training with the U.S. team pursuit squad on the track and normal gravel racing with Santa Cruz, Holcomb was thriving back on mountain bikes.

“I haven’t got to do a proper mountain bike race in long time, so it was really nice to be back.”

Holcomb won several stages, but was pushed to two sprint finishes. And conceded stage wins to Sandra Walter and Katerina Nash, while fending off challenges from Hannah Simms. The Californian loved the challenge of the BCBR experience.

Holcomb, Schurter and several pros returned to the finish corrall to greet the final finishers of BC Bike Race. Photo: Deniz Merdano

“It was awesome. I didn’t really know what to expect. Every day was just amazing trails, amazing riding. I feel like the race played out differently every day, which was sick. I won, which is also awesome, but it’s just such a fun week. I had such a good time.”

Hannah Simms rode a stellar week, moving up into second overall on the women’s podium behind Holcomb. That put her ahead of BCBR royalty, multi-disciplinary Olympian Katerina Nash. Nash, for her part, was quick to give credit to her competitors for their efforts.

“Most of us in the group threw everything we had at Ruth and every single day she came through. She is the deserving winner. Hannah stepped it up from two years ago, which is also really fun to see.”

Coach K’s still got it. 7th against the young guns and Schurter is pretty good. Photo: Dave Silver
Geoff Kabush looks into the future of BC Bike Race

2026 was the 20th BC Bike Race. It was also the final edition in the west coast classic’s original,  seven day format.  In 2027, BC Bike Race returns in a new five-day format. That’s not all that’s new, though. BCBR is returning to Squamish next year. And, as BCBR racer’s finished, vans were rolling in for a big weekend of XC, DH and enduro racing at BC Bike Fest, including the sixth annual MegaVolt eMTB festival.

For BCBR veteran Geoff Kabush, the change isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Seven days is getting pretty hard,” multi-time BCBR champ Geoff Kabush said. “I’m kind of excited to hear we’re going back to Squamish. A little more technical trails there. And five days sounds a little more manageable for this old guy.”

Kabush is being modest. Even if he admits he “doesn’t have as many bullets to fight with the kids anymore,” the veteran racer finished 7th overall this week.

Change is always hard, we know. But if even BCBR veteran Geoff Kabush is excited, we can all get on board, right?

“There’s always something new at BC Bike Race. Even in Cumberland where I grew up, there’s always fresh trails. B.C. is kinda endless, so much to explore. This year, it was really cool to go back to Hammerfest and see the work Arrowsmith did to clean it up for us. I remember racing Andrew Shandro there back in the late 90s when he was cross training for DH. I don’t think those trails are still around, but it was fun to go back. And in Cumberland? None of those trails existed when I was a kid. It was all on the other side of the lake. It’s incredible to see how these communities have evolved and built up around those trail networks.”

If you want to be part of any of that, registration for BC Bike Race 2027 is already open.