After the opening stage of the inaugural Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, British Columbia, it looked as though the Monavie-Cannondale.com team was all but unstoppable. In the men's race they occupied the top-3 positions on GC and Sue Butler was in first in the women's race by over 20 minutes. That was then... Monavie team captain and race leader Jeremiah Bishop crashed out on stage 3, fracturing two vertebrae. Which left Tinker Juarez and 3-time collegiate national champion Ben Sonntag to represent the team.
Sonntag went down hard on stage 4 knocking himself unconcious leaving him battered on the side of the trail. Current race leader Chris Sheppard stayed with the bruised and beaten Sonntag for roughly 30 minutes while Tinker Juarez went ahead for help. Once help arrived Sonntag was taken to the hospital via ambulance where he was treated and released.
This left mountain bike legend and endurance specialist Tinker Juarez as the lone surviving member of the Monavie trio. Unfortunately, Juarez became lost on course in the latter half of the 100 kilometer stage 4 and was unable to finish. Thankfully, for the Monavie team Sue Butler remains at the front of the women's race, poised to take the GC after todays final time-trial. Sheppard retained the leaders jersey after stage-4 despite his act of selfless compassion for his fellow racer.
Photos courtesy of Monavie-cannondale.com
Stayed tuned to MTBracenews.com for more from the Intermontane Challenge including Amanda Carey's blog. We will post results when they become available.