Wells and Haywood win stage 3 of the Breck Epic

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Spectators lined the sidewalks, chatting amongst themselves and taking pictures of the racer they were out to support while Larry Grossman made wisecracks on the microphone. Soon Grossman began counting down the seconds while cow bells rang along the street. With that, racers were off for their third day of the Breck Epic.

Day three circumnavigated Mt Guyot, dropping racers down to Park County, and then back up Georgia Pass, where they connected to the Colorado trail for singletrack that, according to McCormack, has a Jekyll and Hyde personality. At times it was buttery and smooth and then it punched you in the bread basket with East Coast-style rocks and roots.

True to form, Todd Wells (Specialized), Alex Grant (Sho-Air/Cannondale), and Ben Sonntag (American Interbanc/Cannondale) came out fast. At the bottom of the relentless Little French descent, Sonntag turned the corner first, but Grant and Wells were not far behind. Soon, Wells kicked it up a notch and Sonntag decided to forgo the attack to have an enjoyable stage, while Grant held on until the climb up Georgia Pass, where Wells created a 30-second gap. By the end, Wells had a two-minute gap on Grant, and a five-minute gap on Sonntag. Ever the optimist, Sonntag came across the line with a smile and a thank you to those supporting him.

Today, the women's race became a battle royale, according to Stan's NoTubes rider, Sue Haywood. Her teammate Amanda Carey came down Little French first, but Haywood was no more than a few seconds back, with Kate Aardal right on Haywood's wheel. Eventually, Haywood decided to push for the front, where she stayed for the remainder of the stage. Aardal finished just two and a half seconds back, with Carey coming in 57 seconds later. A tight stage for the women means that Carey now leads Aardal by only four minutes and 34 seconds, and Haywood by four minutes and 41 seconds.

The singlespeed men pushed each other hard-second through fifth place finished only six seconds apart. Dax Massey took a convincing win, 22 minutes up on the rest of the field. The top singlespeed woman, Andrea Wilson, kept increasing her lead as well, finishing an hour and half in front of second.

Day three concludes the mini-Epic, and Jake Wells won the overall in just nine hours and 41 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes up on the rest of the field. Duffy Danish took the women's overall, nine minutes ahead of her field. The three day men's 40+ saw the top two finishers (Peter Basler and Henry Fischer) two and a half minutes apart after 11 hours of racing.

Peter Forbare is going for the record number of flats in the race, with five flats in stage 3, yet he still finished third in Clydesdale. Breck local, Scott Reid continued dominating, leading Sante Fe Brewing/Pivot's Steve Thompson by an hour and twenty-seven minutes.

Stans NoTube's Shannon Gibson leads the 6-day women 40+, where she has an hour and 40 minute lead after three days of racing. Grossman joked that she could run to town to deliver newspapers during stage four and retain her lead.

The enduro segments of the Breck Epic are beginning to smooth out, both literally and figuratively, and after stage 2, Breck local Nick Truitt leads the enduro, with Grant and Sonntag on his heels. Look for more exciting racing from those three as well as Macky Franklin in the upcoming days.

Day 4 will be the longest day, but the rocks become smaller and the views continue to impress. Each day at the finish, racers comment how the trails get better every day and stage four will not disappoint.

Stage 3 Results

General classification after stage 3