Sager outkicks team Kona in dramatic stage 6 finish

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The Team Kona duo of Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks came within a wisp of winning today's stage outright after sitting at the front for most of the day, only to be pipped at the line by Jamis rider Jason Sager, who jumped between the pair in the final sprint to claim his third stage out of six thus far.

Wicks and Sneddon, riding in the team category, along with solo racers Sager and Neal Kindree (Republic Bike Shop / SRAM) came into the finishing straight as a group with Sneddon leading it out followed by Wicks. According to Sager, he didn't want to challenge Kona but was forced to sprint to stay ahead of a charging Kindree. Sneddon was the first across the line while Sager edged Wicks by inches. At BCBR teams are placed according to the second rider's finishing position. This handed the overall win to Sager.

"I'm a little angry but whatever," said Wicks immediately after the finish. "I'm happy to have been at the front the whole time, and in my mind we won. It's heartbreaking after doing all that work today."

Sager had nothing but praise for Team Kona after today's effort but justified his finishing move. "I had to race. If it was just the three of us, I wouldn't have contested it but I had to stay ahead of Kindree."

Kindree held on to the back of the train to claim second in the solo category ahead of Thomas Deitsch (Team Bulls), who crossed the line a few minutes later, giving up time on the last descent.

"I just stuck to the backend and tried to hang on," said Kindree. "The Kona boys were giving it full gas the whole time and Jason and I were just hanging on. When we hit the final gravel section into the finish Jason got around and that was it."

Race leader Chris Sheppard (Rocky Mountain), who said last night his legs weren't feeling 100 percent, fell out of the lead group when he flatted late in the stage but was able to hold on for fourth in the solo group and easily retain his grasp on the golden fleece by 10 minutes over Sager and 21 minutes over Kindree.

"This was like my second flat tire in about 4,000km of stage racing, so I was a little rusty on fixing it," Sheppard said. "I filled the tire and continued but it went flat again when I burped it in a turn so I had to stop and put a tube in. There was a little bit of panic because I knew there were a few road sections coming up near the end so I'd have to match the leaders speed to not lose more time."

Not to be deterred, Sheppard also said he'll be going for the win in Whistler's final stage on Saturday.

The open men's duo is all but sealed with Kona leading by a large margin followed by the Nativo/Devinci squad of Marty Larski and Ricky Federau nearly 40 minutes back.

In the solo women's class, Hannah Thorne took the win ahead of GC leader Jennifer Schulz, who retained her lead. In the women's duo category, Simone McCallum and Claire Garcia-Webb's Shparkle Horsh And The Hyper Monkey team won again to increase their GC lead over the second place Dirt Sistas team of Heide Saunders and Robyn Pickering and the Brazilian team of Luli Cox and Adriana Boccia.

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