At Cyclocross Nationals in 2010, Wells dominated. He continued the trend at Leadville. © Joe Sales
On Saturday, a triumphant Todd Wells tweeted, “Just won the Leadville 100 with the 2nd fastest time to Levi, 6:23ish I think!! I’m gonna eat whatever I want …”
He certainly deserved it after winning the notorious 100 mile mountain bike race renowned for it’s 14,000 feet of climbing, heartbreak and the fact that the course is all above 10,000 feet. Wells is no stranger to the race, coming in third last year after a mechanical.
He won by almost four minutes, and came close to setting the course record (held by Levi Leipenheimer.) Wells told us, “Leadville is about as different from a cyclocross race as you can get. Last year I went in under-prepared and had some bad luck. I swore I would never go back again unless I had time to train properly for it, acclimate and have a real shot at winning. Riding up 6th St. [to the finish], knowing I had achieved the goal I set out in an event that isn’t in my normal range, was amazing. I felt strong all day and couldn’t have asked for a better race.”
Cyclocrosser Tim Johnson also raced at Leadville, coming in an impressive 16th. Johnson, who went on to toe the starting line at the Breck Epic, a six-day MTB stage race, less than 20 hours later, said, “Saturday definitely took it out of me … It was a long day on the bike, high altitude and some busy travel stuff to get ready for the start of the Breck race at 8 a.m. the next day. It wasn’t exactly a chill 20 hours between events.”
