South African Team DCM wins stage by one second at BC Bike Race

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Mountain bikers know better than anyone the expression, "You have to earn your turns." Loosely translated, it means that outrageously fun downhill trails are usually preceded by solid uphill climbs. Rod Camposano, course director for stages 4 and 5, is known for his passion for climbing - and for imparting that passion on the people he rides with and designs races for. Camposano knows where to find the memorable climbs and more importantly how to deliver even more memorable descents. Stage 5 didn't disappoint on either count.

In the solo men's category, Jason Sager (Team Jamis) won the stage in 2:29:31, ahead of runner-up Chris Sheppard (Team Rocky Mountain Bikes) in 2:38:15. Sheppard continues to lead the GC, ahead of Sager. Melanie McQuaid continued her domination of the overall women's solo race, taking another stage.

Max Knox & Branden Stewart (Team DCM 1) took their first stage win in the men's duo team category with a time of 2:31:39, however Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks (Team Kona) retained their overall lead.

Terrascape-Hardcore Racing's Alana Heise and Kate Aardal won the duo women's team stage and kept the overall lead.

Canada Day spirit shone bright at the BC Bike Race, despite the early morning rain on day five. Canadian jerseys, Canadian flags and flashes of red made for a festive start line as racers spun their ay to the first climb of the day.

With trails getting muddy in places, racers had a great opportunity to rinse off their bikes in a creek crossing before continuing on with their climb. The altitude gained paid off in spades with a trail that's renowned to mountain bikers familiar with the riding in this area - Highway 102: Sechelt's "highway to heaven". Well, it's more like highway from heaven. This trail is the type of smooth, swooping descent that mountain bikers live to ride with more than 7km of grin-inducing trail that leads racers down to their ultimate endpoint - the finish line at the Langdale ferry terminal.

Camposano explained that Highway 102 gained its name from its proximity to the major route Highway 101, with which it runs parallel. Highway 101 runs all the way north from Baja, Mexico to Lund, British Columbia.

A close stage

Early in the race Sheppard was point man in the lead group of Sneddon, Wicks, and Sager; by midpoint, Sager had ricocheted out front and held on for the solo men's stage win. Team Kona maintained their lead until close to the end of the course when DCM 1's Max Knox and Brendan edged out a one-second victory. The South African team DCM was pumped at the finish.

"That's what makes 22 hours worth of flying to come and ride those trails - it was fantastic," they said.

The Kona boys still dominate the GC by roughly 26 minutes over DCM. Sheppard came in with the Kona team for the number two solo slot, two and a half minutes behind Sager; however, Shep still wears the yellow jersey with an eight-minute lead over Sager in the GC.

After a hard day of climbing and incredibly memorable descending, racers hit the stage 5 finish line with perma-grins and amazing feedback about their day. A quick bike wash and shower at the finish line prepped racers for their final ferry journey of the week.

Now for a random BCBR fact. Racer Host Manager, Joanne Bragg, makes notoriously good peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which she quarters and sets out for racers at the finish line. Joanne's PB&J recovery food is so popular, she has gone through 22 loaves of bread, which each make 12 sandwiches. That's 264 sandwiches or 1056 PB&J quarter-sandwich snacks consumed by racers in five days, with more to come.

Race note: For the first time this week, world-famous mountain unicyclist Kris Holm took to the podium in the Challenge (shorter version of the BC Bike Race - ed.). He was third in the solo men's category, with a 4:30:14 finish.

Stage 6 Preview

Next up is stage 6 in Squamish. BCBR will welcome many VIPs and guests to share in the BC Bike Race experience - including guest riders and kids.

Stage 5 Results

General classification after stage 5