Jorge Espinoza made a bold move attacking at the beginning of today's stage
Writing and Photos by: Shannon Boffeli
The final stage of the inaugural Breck-Epic was no champagne drinking parade lap. It included several hard climbs, challenging singletrack, mud, and plenty of rocks. As soon as the pace car pulled off the neutral start it was clear these racers were itching to prove themselves one final time.
The attacks started almost immediately as the riders climbed up Boreas Pass Road. As the road transitioned to tight singletrack the top racers were looking to get in clean. Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com) had the GC win all but tied up but others were looking for a stage win or to improve their GC standing. One rider on the hunt was Horizon Organic Cycling's Jorge Espinoza who started the day in 9th on the GC. Jorge rode with the bunch through the opening trails and once the riders emerged on the Boreas Pass Road near the top he put it down. After the race Espinoza said, "I figured this is the last stage and once we got to the singletrack again those guys would catch me so I just went for it on the road."
With his acceleartion Espinoza got a 15 second lead over the nearest chaser Colby Pearce (Michelob Ultra) who crested Boreas Pass 15 seconds in front of the main group of chasers, which including Bishop, Travis Brown, and Brandon Dwight (Boudler Cycle Sport). Once over the top the riders bombed down a section of ripping fast singletrack before hitting an 8-mile section of dirt road climbing up the back side of Boreas Pass.
Again Espinoza crested Boreas with a 30 second lead over the chasers. This time it was the high-powered duo of Bishop and Brown looking to close it down on the Horizon rider. With just 20 minutes of descending left Espinoza gave it his all. the two chasers worked together but we unable to bring back Espinoza who had been solo of the front for over 90 minutes.
Espinoza crossed the line over a minute in front to take his first stage win at the Breck-Epic. Bishop was able to gap Brown on one of the short climbs on the final descent and crossed the line in second taking the Breck-Epic leaders jersey back to Virginia. Travis Brown finished third with Colby Pearce coming home in fourth.
In the women's event it was Jen Gersbach (Dale's Pale Ale/Spot) once again taking the stage win. This time in commanding fashion. Although she started the day more than 28 minutes in front of her nearest competitor she was not content to cruise to the overall victory. Gersbach attacked the opening climb and pushed a furious pace over the 33-mile course. By the time she crested Boreas Pass the second and final time the race leader had over 10 minutes on second place and kept pouring it on down the final descent. "I had so much fun today" the Breck-Epic Champion exclaimed after the finish, "that course was just really fast and fun."
Christina Begy took second on the day with Jen Hanks crossing the line in third.
In the singlespeed competition David Wilson (Titus) had blown the race apart on the Wheeler Loop yesterday taking a 7 minute thirty second lead over second placed Dan Durland (Pro Cycling) but it was clear the race between these two wasn't finished yet. Wilson took the early lead up Boreas. But on the return trip over the pass Wilson was upset that he had chosen the wrong gear for today's race, it was too small. Durland closed a gap of several minutes on the race leader and by the time they crossed the pass for the last time the two were side-by-side. Unfortunately for the chaser, the 20 minutes of desecendng left him little opportunity to make up his GC gap. The two competitors cranked down the final descent with Wilson taking the stage win by just over a minute.
Jen Gersbach took every stage of the Breck-Epic including today
Riders roll off the start for the final stage of the Breck-Epic
David Wilson and Dan Durland crest Boreas pass together with just 20 minutes from the finish
The chase group including Jeremiah Bishop crest the Boreas Pass climb behind Espinoza
Results
Solo Men
1, Jorge Espinoza (Horizon Organic Cycling) 2.14.11
2, Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 2.15.59
3, Travis Brown 2.16.12
4, Colby Pearce (Michelob Ultra)
5, Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport)
Solo Women
1, Jen Gersbach (Dale's Pale Ale/Spot)
2, Christina Begy
3, Jen Hanks (Revolution/Powerbar)
Singlespeed
1, David Wilson (Titus)
2, Dan Durland (Pro Cycling)
For Full Results and all the other categories Click Here
