Jason Sager wins second stage

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On a long, fast, hilly day tailor made for Thomas Dietsch of the Bulls team, a selection of problems prevented him from that elusive stage win.

Riding a borrowed bike after breaking his own bike yesterday, Dietsch set a high early pace, gaining a 20-second advantage as the bunch rolled out from Earl's Cove right off the ferry dock and into a section of grass doubletrack about 10km into the race. But shortly thereafter, he suffered a flat tire and then a broken chain, which delayed the Frenchman for a substantial period of time. And after that, he took a wrong turn and then crashed while chasing.

"I was trying to chase and I went to fast and fell," said Dietsch of his effort. "It's okay. If I have some problems, I say I don't care because I really enjoy this race. Today's landscape was amazing, it doesn't look real."

Dietsch's upbeat attitude and the fact that he's camping in a tent with a majority of racers has gained him a considerable fan base here at the BC Bike Race.

"He was going fast but then just disappeared," said Jamis' Jason Sager, who won today's stage in a sprint with Rocky Mountain's Chris Sheppard after 40 miles of racing with nearly 7,000 feet of climbing, much of it on exposed fireroad. "Dietsch attacked and got maybe 20 seconds on the false flats so we just let him stay out there but he flatted as soon as we hit the woods."

From there, Sager and Sheppard set a strong tempo and stayed away on their own for most of the stage. They kept testing each other but nothing could stick until the final 3km when the course shot up a short, sandy rise and Sager gained 10 seconds on Sheppard.

"I time trialed it from there, but when we came to a section of pavement, I went the wrong way and the lead moto had to go get me," said Sager. At this point, the two were back together and with 500 meters to go, they were battling side-by-side down a loose, rocky road towards the finish super D style.

When neither could get around the other it came down to a two-man sprint, which Sager won to give him his second stage win of the week. The Kona duo of Barry Wicks and Kris Sneddon was third across the line followed farther back by Canadian Cory Wallace in fourth overall and as the third solo man.

Sheppard maintains a 15:51 GC lead over second placed Sager. Wallace moved into third overall, 12:57 behind Sager after yesterday's stage winner Neal Kindree ended up a disappointing eighth and dropped to fourth overall. Dietsch now sits in 12th in the GC, nearly 23 minutes behind Sheppard.

No significant changes happened in the other categories with repeat winners and barring any disasters the top GC positions are settling into comfortable time gaps maintainable into the final stage at Whistler.

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