Jeremiah Bishop and Jen Gersbach make it 4 for 4 as other categories shake up the GC
Breck-Epic race director Mark McCormack wanted Stage 3 to be the queen stage. He wanted to challenge the riders and create drama in the general classification. McCormack was successful on both counts. The Mount Guyot stage challenged even the strongest riders, at Georgia Pass just below the peak of Mount Guyot former World Champion Alison Dunlap said, "I want to go back into retirement." That was just before 8 miles of downhilling on the Colorado Trail, which certainly changed her mind.
One rider who wasn't thinking of retirement was Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com). The Monavie rider used today to blow apart his competition. Bishop excelled on the early climbs, of which there were many, opening gaps on the chasers including Travis Brown (Trek) who trailed Bishop by just 46 seconds in the GC. By the time the riders crested Georgia Pass at mile 22 Bishop had opened a 4 minute gap on Brown and showed no sign of slowing.
Despite the 43-mile racecourse and roughly 8,000 vertical feet of climbing Bishop was standing and pounding on the pedals like it was a cross country race. After Georgia Pass, Brown had 8 solid miles of descending to work his magic and limit his time gap on the leader. Bishop wasn't having any of it today. After the downhill and final climb the Monavie strongman had put an additional 2 minutes into second place. Bishop crossed the line with an astonishing time of 3 hours 33 minutes.
Ben Thompson would take 3rd on the stage
Behind the leaders Ben Thompson (Cannondale) and Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport) continued their battle for 3rd place in the GC. The two riders have been closely matched all week with Dwight sitting in third on the GC by just 76 seconds. Dwight marked his challenger all day long and lost just 3 seconds to Thompson on the line.
Independent Fabrications rider Harlan Price pulled out another strong finish today crossing the line in 5th. Two strong days of riding have moved him into 5th on the GC just one second in front of James Williams (Cannondale) and 13 seconds in front of Colby Pearce (Michelob Ultra).
In the women's event Jen Gersbach (Dale's Pale Ale/Spot) used the added mileage in today's stage to take more time out of the competition. She steadily climbed her way to the front over the first half of the race before dropping the hammer and finishing over 11 minutes in front of Christina Begy. Jen Hanks finished third again today.
Singlespeeder David Wilson giving it his all in the prologue is just 1 second out of first
The men's singlespeed competition seems to be one of the hottest. Dan Durland (Pro Cycling) and David Wilson (Titus) have been trading wins throughout the race with Wilson taking the top spot today. Durland retained his leaders jersey by less than one second. This will be a good race to watch throughout the final stages of the Breck-Epic.
In the men's duo category the GT Dirt Coalition Team of Ryan Krayer and Jerry Long pulled off a big upset today as they held on for the win after Team Kappii flatted early in the race and were not able to close on the GT squad. Team Kappii held onto their GC lead by 2 minutes 19 seconds.
Race Notes:
Larry Grossman has been get'n the lube out all week
Squirt Lube is not only sponsoring the race but Squirt Lube's frontman Larry Grossman has been personally lubing every riders chain at the aid stations. With 140 riders in the race and two aid stations each day Larry "The Hardest Working Man In The Lube Business" has lubed roughly 1,120 chains since the race started on Sunday.
Stage 3 Results:
Solo Men
1, Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 3.33.16
2, Travis Brown (Trek) 3.39.25
3, Ben Thompson (Cannondale) 3.43.46
4, Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport) 3.43.48
5, Harlan Price (Independent Fabrications) 3.48.21
Solo Women
1, Jen Gersbach (Dale's Pale Ale/Spot)
2, Christina Begy (Christina Begy)
3, Jen Hanks (Revolution/Powerbar)
Singlespeed
1, David Wilson (Titus) 4.13.59
2, Dan Durland (Pro Cycling) 4.19.52
3, Jake Kirkpatrick (New Belgium Brewing) 4.24.13
Duo Men
1, GT Dirt Coalition (Ryan Krayer/ Jerry Long) 4.14.34
2, Team Kappi (Brady Kappius/Russell Kappius) 4.21.16
For Full Results and all the other categories Click Here
Jen Gersbach looks comfortable in her leaders jersey
Brandon Dwight has been consistently strong all week
Jeremiah Bishop cements his lead with a strong effort on today's stage
