Berden carving around the course on Day 2 of Providence. © Meg McMahon
Day two of Providence weekend saw Ben Berden on the top step of the podium after a sprint with Tim Johnson for the win. After the race, we sat down surrounded by his fiance Nicole Duke and Raleigh’s Brian Fornes (look for his hand holding out a beer bottle midway through the interview) to chat about his race, his season and, of course, his bike.
On the race… Zach went really fast in the beginning. I let someone else close the gap so I could save some energy, then we caught him and he crashed. I attacked, Tim [Johnson] followed so we were really solid with two or three other guys. Then I attacked and it was me and Tim and I knew I’d have to wait for the sprint. We tried to attack more on the last two laps. But I was really confident for the win.
On Zach’s early attack… He went fast but for him, he had an injury and some stuff that wasn’t really optimal. He went fast, but I had something left.
On the sprint… He led coming out on the grass and it was a little uphill.
On what’s next… I’m going home, to Boulder!
On racing in Europe… No, I don’t want to get deported so I’m staying here! So I’m not going to Europe.
On his bike… The bike is perfect. I had the same setup as last year, 10-speed, one ring in the front, disc brakes, so I’m really happy with this bike.
On season goals… My goal is to win the UCI thing in the US. I want to get as many points as possible and that means a lot of racing.
Watch the full interview here:
