Intermountain Cup #6, Sundance, Utah: Race Results and Report

The Pro Men's start. Welsh, with his head down, had one thing on his mind.

Dave Welsh Derails the Monavie Green Machine as Amanda Carey Makes it Three for Three

This weekend the Intermountain Cup officially made it’s yearly transition from the lower valley elevations to the big mountain high-altitude racing Utah is known for. Located at beautiful Sundance ski resort the race featured big climbs and flowing singletrack descents.

In the men’s race Monavie-Cannondale.com was looking to continue it’s domination of the Utah series. Monavie heavy-hitters Bart Gillespie and Alex Grant would be out of the mix as both riders traveled to Ohio to compete in the Mohican 100 on Saturday. In an effort to make up for their absence Monavie selected professional road racer Burke Swindlehurst to preserve their unbeaten record at this year’s I-Cup races. In the past that would have been enough to assure Monavie of yet another win but not this year.

As the field of 20 professionals took the start line a group of talented racers were looking to take the win. Not least of which was Kuhl/Scott rider Dave Welsh. Welsh has been riding at the front all season and he had winning on his mind as the race started.

Welsh burst from the line taking a 10 second lead up the opening climb. He kept the pace high and by the time riders entered the singletrack Welsh was 20 seconds ahead. Struggling to close the gap was Subaru/Gary Fisher teammates Chris Holley and Josh Wolfe followed by Kevin Day (Kuhl/Scott), Shannon Boffeli and Ty Hansen (Revolution/Peak Fasteners), Swindlehurst, Chad Harris (Racer’s Cycle Service) and Charlie Gibson (Felt).

Swindlehurst climbs past a mass of pros on the second lap

Holley, a master of the Sundance course, briefly closed the gap on Welsh but the Kuhl rider was too much for him as he climbed away in the top spot. Felt rider Charlie Gibson put in a huge surge at the end of lap one which took him from outside the top-5 to second place. Gibson used his excellent handling skills and climbing power to hold onto the runner-up slot. For the second week in a row, Holley crossed the line in third, happy with his efforts on the day.

Swindlehurst had to settle for fourth just in front of Josh Wolfe.

After the race, a proud Dave Welsh said, “I had a really good day. I like to start really fast somedays I can keep it going and somedays I can’t. Today was a good day.”

Riders head up the opening road climb against the beautiful backdrop of Sundance Resort

The Pro women were led out by Kenda/Tomac rider Amanda Carey. The powerful Idaho rider has competed at three Intermountain Cup races this season and has won each one of them. Carey opened up a gap on the fist climb and held it throughout the rest of the race.

Carey was able to hold off strong challenges from KC Holley (Subaru/Gary Fisher), also adept at the Sundance course, was never able to close the gap on the Kenda racer.

Written by: Shannon Boffeli

Photos by: Kim Abbott

Pro Women

1,Amanda Carey (Kenda/Tomac/Hayes) 2.03.24
2, KC Holley (Subaru/Gary Fisher) 2.05.13
3, Erika Powers (Revolution/Peak Fasteners) 2.08.18
4, Roxanne Tolley (Jans) 2.16.03
5, India Wysong 2.16.04

Pro Men

1,Dave Welsh (Kuhl/Scott) 1.41.31
2, Chuck Gibson (Felt) 1.42.02
3, Chris Holley (Subaru/Gary Fisher) 1.42.29
4, Burke Swindlehurst (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 1.43.39
5, Josh Wolfe (Subaru/Gary Fisher) 1.44.46
6, Kevin Day (Kuhl/Scott)
7, Reed Wycoff (Contenders)
8, Ty Hansen (Revolution/Peak Fasteners)
9, Chad Harris (Racer's Cycle Service)
10, Jonny Hintze (Biker's Edge)
11, Quinn Bingham (Biker's Edge)
12, Rich Abbott (Revolution/Peak Fasteners)
13, Shannon Boffeli (Revolution/Peak Fasteners)
14, Brandon Cross (Monavie-Cannondale.com)
15, Brandon Firth (Rocky Mountain)
16, Taylor Foss (Kuhl/Scott)
17, Marc Wimmer (Wimmer's)
18, Greg Gibson (MTBracenews.com)
DNF Robbie Squire (U-23 National Team)