Breck Epic Stage 3: Circling massive Mt. Guyot
Teammates Russell Finsterwald and Todd Wells have made it known that they are the ones setting the pace this week after gapping the field by 6 minutes at the line. Stage 3 concluded another wheel to wheel finish for the SRAM/Troy Lee Designs teammates. Finsterwald took the stage win, but Wells remains in the leader’s jersey. Photo by Liam Doran Photography
The third day of the Breck Epic saw riders tackle the second longest stage of the week (41 miles), circling the massive Mt. Guyot. Men’s overall race leader Todd Wells (SRAM-Troy Lee Designs) and teammate Russell Finsterwald distanced themselves from the others on the second climb of the day — the decisive Georgia Pass — and never looked back. For full results check out www.breckepic.com.
“On the second climb, it’s a really steep one and it’s rideable all the way to the top,” said Wells. “It’s one of those things where you don’t attack or anything, you just push whatever gear you can sustain and we rolled off.”
French Pass was the first grind up to 12,000ft today. The arrow points to the goat trail descent down to the start of the rider’s next route back up to 12k. Photo by Eddie Clark
By the time Wells and Finsterwald reached the rock gardens at the bottom of the descent off Georgia pass the duo had about 5 minutes over third place rider Chris Jones (Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling). At the finish, the lead duo had a nearly 7-minute gap.
“First legit mountain bike podium ever,” said Jones at the finish. “Well, I’ve only done like six races ever, but I think if I’m on the podium with Todd and Finsterwald, that’s a pretty legit podium, right? We’ll call it dumb luck. I was okay going up Georgia Pass, but I don’t have the skills those guys do [on the steep climbs] where you’re just kind of balancing and if you unclip you have to run. That’s where those guys got away. They rode a section I had to walk, and I never saw them again.”
The rustic terrain and majestic views rewarded racers hard efforts. Photo by Eddie Clark
While the leaders had dry conditions for most of the day, the majority of the field dealt with driving rain on the climb and descent of Georgia Pass. Many riders dealt with flats early on, including Clif Bar teammates Troy Wells and Ben Sontag. Sontag was able to repair his flat with a plug, but Troy Wells, who suffered his flat early in the stage, got shuffled back in the field and lost a chunk of time.
In the three-day competition, Bryan Dillon (Topeak-Ergon), added to his lead with a win of the final stage.
“Today is a fun stage. It really gets into the true Breckenridge style of rocky-riding and hike-a-biking,” said Dillon. “Being up on Guyot that time of day and looking back down on the valley, it’s just righteous.”
Riders had two lines to choose from as they crest French Pass. Their paths either high sided the skree field, or cut right through the snow drift. Photo by Eddie Clark
Women’s 6-day open leader Amy Krahenbuhl added to her lead with her elevated level of technical riding on the descents of stage 3. Ksenia Lepikhina (Tokyo Joe’s) was in second, 10-minutes back, while Emma Maaranen (Rolf) was another four and half minutes in arrears.
“[Lepikhina] was behind me at the start of the first climb, but after that I was hanging out with boys and using that as motivation, said Krahenbuhl. “Today I finally felt like my legs were strong. I really like the day after day cycling, so I felt like today I finally got my legs and I’m going to keep with it.”
The descent off of French Pass gives everything from rugged skree fields to high speed singletrack. Photo by Eddie Clark
Next up is stage 4, the longest of the week at 44 miles.
For more info please visit breckepic.com.
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