Seventeen-year-old mountain biker River Valdez of Sedona finished in third place in the 2024 USA Cycling Cross-Country Mountain Bike National Championships in July at at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania and in 16th place at the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

“Union Cycliste Internationale basically governs all the races, and they have their point system, and they hold the world championship and continental championship and [events] like that,” Valdez explained. “So they’re the big organization that kind of creates the pathway to the pros.”

Valdez announced on his blog on Jan. 5 that he would be racing for the Orange Seal Academy and the Bear National Team during the 2025 cross-country season. He described the academy as a high-level race team that provides coaching support behind the scenes and at competitions and has supported cyclists including Savilia Blunk, Cole Paton and Kelsey Urban.

“This year plays a key factor in my long term goals, going into the U23,” Valdez said, referring to an age bracket for riders between the ages of 19 and 22. “If I can do really well this year, this might be an indicator to continue and see how far I can go with it, but I am planning to go to college in the fall.”

In December, Dennis Van Winden, a former professional road racer for Jumbo Visma who competed in multiple Grand Tours, became Valdez’s new coach. 

“I have trained with Dennis for only a short time, and I have already improved my power in various areas. I am more confident, hungry and excited to give every race my all,” Valdez said. “Most coaches, they’re just there to train you for cycling, but Dennis looks at an athlete as a whole picture, and I think that’s a great way to look at your life too.”

Valdez’s 2025 competition will include the U.S. Pro Cup No. 1 in March at Vail Lake Resort in California; the U.S. Pro Cup No. 2 in March in Fayetteville, Ark.; the Continental Championship in Costa Rica; the American National Championship in Virginia; and the World Championship in Valais, Switzerland, held in August and September.

“I am both excited and nervous about the UCI World Championship in Switzerland this year,” Valdez said. “Because that race is one that a lot of the major teams look at, and there’s a lot of pressure on that one race because of it. It’s the most prestigious event for the juniors age category, so that’ll be a great way to view where I’m at in terms of the world competition.” 

At the 2024 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Vallnord, Andorra, Valdez was the top first-year junior in the competition and took 16th place.

Valdez currently plans on enrolling at Arizona State University in the fall as a pre-veterinary medicine student; his sister is also studying psychology at ASU and they may share an apartment. He has attended online school at ASU Digital Prep for the last year.

“I’ve been taking a couple college courses; that’s been a little difficult,” Valdez said. ”But one of the things I’ve also done well this last year is figuring out how to manage my schoolwork and academics with traveling all over the world with cycling, so it’s been exciting. But in 2025 I’m hoping to put what I’ve learned together and see what kind of results I can get out of it before the next level of competition.”

For more information about Valdez, visit rivervaldez.com.