Jeremiah Bishop eeks out another win by just 5 seconds, Gersbach repeats
It seems the weather has finally turned for the Breck-Epic. Warm temperatures and sunny skies greeted the riders at the 9AM start. Despite having logged over 40-miles ofbackcountry racing in the last two days most riders seemed to be in good spirits this morning.
The racers would be attacking the Pennsylvania Creek Loop today which starts with a steep, leg-burning climb up Boreas Pass Road similar to the Firecracker 50. After the climb racers were treated to a series of singletrack trails, steep technical climbs, and scorching-fast fire road descents.
The solo men's race shook out faster than Stage 1. Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com) and Travis Brown (Trek) quickly controlled the front of the race as the chasers focused on each other. Just behind the leaders Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sports) and Ben Thompson (Cannondale) were joined by Cory Wallace (Kona). Wallace started the day 21st in the GC but seemed intent on making up time in today's stage.
Brown and Bishop rolled past Bakers Tank roughly halfway through the stage. Each rider appeared calm and relatively fresh. Once they through the singletrack descent and past the Sally Barber Mine road the leaders began testing each other with small accelerations. On the final climb, with roughly 20 minutes to go, Bishop gave it full gas on what he thought was a short ascent. "I went really hard at the start of that climb and saw I got a gap on Travis. I thought the climb was over but I was only about halfway. I figured I would just keep going hard and see what happened."
By the time he crested the final climb Bishop had 20 seconds on the Trek rider. As they blasted down the final fire road to the finish Brown used his exceptional talents to close it up on the leader as they crossed the line just 5 seconds apart. Jeremiah currently leads the GC standings over Travis by a mere 46 seconds.
Dwight crossed the line solo in 3rd followed by Wallace and Thompson who were separated by just 3 seconds.
In the solo women's race Dale's Pale Ale rider Jen Gersbach is looking untouchable as the GC leader. Gersbach, an experienced endurance racer, switched from hardtail to full-suspension for today's race. The race preview called for more rough, rocky trail. The bike switch seemed to only make her faster as she put over 4 minutes on second place rider and former 24-Hour World Champion Christina Begy.
After the race Gersbach said, " I was nervous about switching bikes for today but I had so much fun on the full-suspension I don't know if I will ever go back!"
Jen Hanks (Revolution/Powerbar) maintained her position in third place.
Race Notes:
Duo Men's race leaders Brady and Russell Kappius had a nervous few moments when Brady flatted late in today's stage. The father/son team chased hard to regain the lead over second place GT Dirt Coalition team of Ryan Krayer and Jerry Long.
Solo Men:
1, Jeremiah Bishop (Monavie-Cannondale.com) 2.05.15
2, Travis Brown (Trek) +5 sec
3, Brandon Dwight (Boulder Cycle Sport) +3.45
4, Cory Wallace (Kona) +5.15
5, Ben Thompson (Cannondale) +5.18
6, Colby Pearce (Michelob Ultra)
7, Harlan Price (Independent Fabrications)
8, James Williams
9, Blake Harlan
10, Yuki Saito
Solo Women:
1, Jen Gersbach (Dale's Pale Ale/Spot) 2.43.16
2, Christina Begy (Christina Begy) +4.33
3, Jen Hanks (Revolution/Powerbar) +18.44
4, Amy Robillard (Tough Girl/Scott) +41.24
5, Kim Bear (Santa Fe) +1.00.06
Singlespeed
1, Dan Durland (Pro Cycling) 2.25.53
2, David Wilson (Titus) +5.15
3, Jake Kirkpatrick (New Belgium Brewing) +10.39
4, Jeffrey Carter (Mafia Racing) +11.36
5, Brian Hollister (Bodysync) +17.00
Men 40+
1, Mark Legg-Compton (Katie Frick'n Compton) 2.17.30
2, Charlie Hayes (Subaru/Gary Fisher) +6.27
3, Guy Sutton (Calcoast) +15.26
4, Sean Raborn (Powerquip) +27.33
5, Jeff Hall (Green Mountain Sports Velo) +32.04
Dan Durland wearing his singlespeed leaders jersey
Riders start Stage 2 on the Breck-Epic
Harlan Price had a good day today
Mark Legg-Compton leads the 40+ field and has finished in the top-10 overall everyday
