Amanda Carey pushes hard to keep her lead after dropping the rest of the women's field nearly half way into the stage (Image credit: Daniel Dunn Photo / www.danieldunnphoto.com)
A classic Colorado ride, according to promoter Mike McCormack, today's stage wove through lush groves of Aspen (Image credit: Daniel Dunn Photo / www.danieldunnphoto.com)
Leader's jerseys adorn cagetory leaders, such as Todd Wells, who is leading the overall race (Image credit: Daniel Dunn Photo / www.danieldunnphoto.com)
Alice Priard pedals to a second place finish today (Image credit: Daniel Dunn Photo / www.danieldunnphoto.com)
Enduro stages peppered into the overall stage created top speed descents with nowhere to rest (Image credit: Daniel Dunn Photo / www.danieldunnphoto.com)
A collective sigh of relief was heard when morning dawned with clear blue skies. After last year’s cold, rainy stage, anything but a drizzly morning felt like a success.
Once again Todd Wells (Specialized), Alex Grant (Sho-Air/Cannondale), and Ben Sonntag took control of the race and never let up. Even coming off of a third place finish in Leadville on Saturday, Wells didn’t let any sign of fatigue show. Eight miles into the race he had a 20-second lead over Sonntag, with Grant close behind.
Grant came in to aid station one with a low rear tire, but after a quick pump he was off chasing again. Nearly 20 miles later, Wells and Grant once again came in together, but they just couldn’t shake Sonntag, who was a minute back.
After nearly three hours of racing, Wells came in almost two minutes ahead of Grant, with Sonntag just a minute and a half behind that.
The women’s field was no less tactical, with teammates Sue Haywood and Amanda Carey (Stan's NoTubes) working together for most of the race. Haywood fell behind with a flat, which was a common occurrence throughout the entire stage. In Haywood’s absence, Belgian Alice Priard stepped up to take second place, while yesterday’s third place finisher, Kate Ardaal, from Calgary, once again took third, just four minutes behind Carey.
The lead in the three-day open men grew a bit today, with Jake Wells coming in strong, finishing fourth overall. David Ross and Ben Welnak rounded out the top three.
In the women’s three-day race Debbie Preller and Duffy Danish traded steps on the podium with Preller reigning supreme, and Annie Fox holding the third place spot.
In the men’s singlespeed race, Dax Massey and Dan Durland made an effort to work together after aid one for a substantial dirt road climb. Massey came into the aid station first, but pedaled softly until Durland was finished with his aid pick up. Massey ended the stage four minutes ahead of Durland.
In the women’s singlespeed race, there are just two competitors, but the overall leader, Andrea Wilson, has the advantage of experience. Wilson was last year’s runner up and stage five winner. This year she has come out strong, taking almost hour leads both days over Susan Sherman from Oregon.
The most notable podium of the day, however, goes to Phil and Gina Kelly from Simi Valley, California. Racing on a pink-accented Ellsworth tandem, the pair came in third in the Coed Duo category, navigating tight switchbacks and rocky climbs together.
In the men’s open duo category, Jeff Kerkove and Yuki Ikeda have dominated, leading by 20 minutes after two days of racing. However, the second place team has hope, as just one flat or mechanical could take Kerkove and Ikeda’s lead down to mere minutes.
In the women’s open duo category, Paula Burks and Shannon Greenhill lead by over an hour.
Finishing out the women’s categories in the 6-day race, Paige Witherington leads Katie Carmichael by 45 minutes, with Cathy Graham rounding out the top three in the 30+ category.
In the women’s 40+ category, Stan's NoTubes Shannon Gibson leads, while Christiane Bouchard leads the women’s 50+ category.
Look for long climbs above 11,000 feet tomorrow for stage 3, with the circumnavigation of Mt Guyot. The long climbs are rewarded with equally long descents that alternate between fast and flowy, and rocky and technical.
