Beukes and Carey win stage 5

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With two short stages signaling the end of the Breck Epic, the tight races in the solo men, solo women, singlespeed men and duo men 80+ categories were on the line. This is the closest race in the history of the event, making for an exciting finish. Things only got closer in some categories today.

As racers headed up a technical, tight singletrack just seconds from the start line, Matthys Beukes (Squirt Lube) sprinted the field, ensuring a cross country-like starting effort. Although the stage was short, it was not easy, as racers once again headed up to over 12,000 feet to drop over the saddle between Peaks 8 and 9, many of those miles walking next to the bike because the pitch and elevation are too much for most to handle.

Once over the top, it was a technical, off-camber descent that favored skilled gravity riders, as Ross Schnell (Trek) demonstrated with his third place finish. Beukes and teammate Ben Melt Swanepoel proved their all-around strength with another one-two finish. Overall leader Ben Sonntag had his lowest finish in fourth place and lost five minutes of his 11-minute lead. Swanepoel is now just 5:57 behind Sonntag with Matthys Beukes 17:46 behind Sonntag. Jake Wells (NoTubes) continues to prove he is a strong competitor with consistent top 10 finishes after the first mechanically devastating day.

Tomorrow will be a battleground within the top seven competitors for the top five places, though the exciting finish will be Sonntag against the Squirt Lube teammates. Will teammates work together to position Swanepoel for the overall win?

Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt) chose to start hard in what she touts as her favorite stage. She pulled away at the beginning, staying in front and putting a 13-minute gap on second place overall woman, Yolandi Du Toit (Squirt Lube), pushing Carey almost 24 minutes ahead of Du Toit in the GC. Du Toit still has a chance at an overall win, though it will be a fight.

In the men's singlespeed race, Brady Kappius (Clif Bar) started with a vengeance. However, coming in to aid station three Kappius and overall leader Macky Franklin (Oskar Blues/Reeb) were just tenths of a second apart. They ended the stage in the same manner, allowing Franklin to retain his 4:50 lead over Kappius. Don't expect Kappius to give up tomorrow, however. This category will also come to an all-out battle for the distinction of inaugural "Singlespeed Stage Race World Champion".

Singlespeeders are again the surprise of the stage, this time over in the women's race. Andrea Wilson, coming in to stage 5 with an hour and 46 minute deficit to overall leader, Jen Wilson (NoTubes), decided to put forth her ultimate effort. She came through as the second overall woman today, just seven minutes back from Carey, closer than Jen Wilson has been in any stage. Passing all of the women (and most of the men, as the singlespeed women were staged last), Andrea Wilson managed to summit the saddle just behind Carey and never let up. She came in amid cheers and when Jen Wilson came through the finish line, her first stop was next to Andrea to give her a hug accompanied by a genuine smile.

In the men's duo 80+ category, the teams of Mike Hogan/Thomas Dooley (Kappius Singletrack) and Kervin Quinones /Michael Trimble (Rotor Bike Components) have been dueling since stage 3, where they finished only 14 seconds apart. Up until stage 3, Hogan and Dooley had a fairly substantial lead, but since then, Quinones and Trimble have pushed through and won each subsequent stage, whittling the lead to only 11 minutes and 25 seconds coming in to the last stage. Yesterday Quinones and Trimble won by five minutes, but today Hogan and Dooley finished just seven seconds behind. Tomorrow will be a battle to the finish.

Stage 6 will conclude with a 37-mile race that Kenda/Felt's Colin Cares won in 2 hours and 10 minutes in 2011. With a combination of technical singletrack and dirt roads, the course refuses to favor a single strength. The best all-around rider will come out victorious.

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