Breck Epic Stage 3: The massive ride around Mount Guyot
Rider’s skills were given center stage with the descent off of Georgia Pass, the second trip over the Continental Divide (click to enlarge). Photo Courtesy Breck Epic/Eddie Clark
The Breck Epic cross-country stage race marched on Tuesday, with the 46-mile trek around Mount Guyot deep in the Breckenridge backcountry. Climbing, as usual, was dished out by the boatload — about 8100 feet when all was said and done.
Up front once again was the Topeak-Ergon trio of Kristian Hynek, Alban Lakata and Jeremiah Bishop. Lakata was fastest on the day, stopping the clock at 3:00:18, with Hynek just a second behind and Bishop a little more than 5 minutes back. That dynamic trio also accounted for the final top 3 in the men’s 3-day open, with Hynek taking top honors, 28 seconds ahead of Lakata. Now, they’ll pack up and head to the other side of Colorado’s Ten Mile Range for next weekend’s Leadville 100 mountain bike race.
The storyline was similar in the women’s 3-day comp, where Topeak-Ergon’s Sally Bigham scored another stage win and wrapped up the overall by a whopping 2.5 hours over Mayalen Noriega (Primaflor-Orbea). Kata Skaggs rounded out the podium.
As for those riders sticking around for the duration, Frans Claes (Loving Hut MTB Team) snagged his third straight stage win, and now leads Ben Swanepoel (Squirt Lube) by over 9 minutes in the overall standings. Bryan Dillon (Griggs Orthopedics) jumped up to third overall after a strong fourth place showing on stage 3, just behind Barry Wicks (Kona) who was third on the day as is 5th overall, with Giant’s Carl Decker in fourth.
In the chase for the women’s 6-day title, Sho-Air/Cannondale’s Evelyn Dong won stage 3, upping her overall lead to 14:12 over with Serena Gordon (Liv Co-Factory). Stage 2 winner Marlee Dixon (mtbracenew.com/Pivot Cycles) is third overall at the half way point.
For full results head over to breckepic.com. For more from the stage check out another amazing photo gallery from Eddie Clark and Liam Doran. Next up is Wednesday’s stage 4 Aqueduct Trail adventure that covers 44 miles with 6300 feet of climbing.
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