Grant and Carey win stage 4 at Breck Epic

Once again, racers made it to the queen stage. With the most vertical over the most amount of miles, stage 4 was a punch in the gut after three hard days of racing. Luckily, much of the trail was fast rolling, giving racers a slight reprieve after days of loose, rocky climbs and descents.

For the first hour, the racing was tight and many were working in packs. Ninety minutes in, Alex Grant led a tight group of Todd Wells, Ben Sonntag, and Takei Kyosuke. Macky Franklin was close behind, followed by Michiel Van Aelbroeck and Nick Truitt. Soon after, the rest of the pack quickly filed in.

After three hours of racing, however, the top four pulled away significantly, and Sonntag led the group by a couple of seconds. Just two miles from the finish, Sonntag looked down to see his crank arm hanging by his left foot and with just a slight tug, his right foot was left holding his right crank arm and spindle. Luckily he came out of the debacle unscathed save for a couple of minutes lost on the lead group.

Alex Grant crossed the line first, to take his first stage win of this year's race.

At the finish line, there was talk of either having a better-than-expected day, or feeling quite flat. Cyldesdale overall leader, Scott Reid pedaled easier than normal through the backside of the race and came through the finish line fast and feeling good, while duo open men's leaders, Yuki Ikeda and Jeff Kerkove had opposite feelings on the state of their legs after the stage.

Women's race leader Amanda Carey came through the finish line solo and fast, but with Kate Aardal close on her wheel, as did singlespeed leader, Dax Massey, though he talked of having run a slightly larger gear than he would have liked. Carlos Vulgamott of Golden Bike Shop rolled through second for singlespeed, with Dan Durland in third.

Feeling good or not, after four days of pushing hard on the pedals, bikes began to feel the pressure. Jonathan Davis came through with a rear flat and a broken rear derailleur, which caused him to run the last six miles. He still finished an impressive third in the men's 40+ category. Gina and Phil Kelly finished their stage on the tandem, but came through with a cracked rear hub and a brake that wouldn't release. A couple of broken collarbones claimed riders, both due to rocky descents and mechanicals.

The racing became tighter in the coed duo category, with Natalie and Sean Raborn taking their second win of the race, and shortening their deficit to only 27 seconds. The pressure is on for Julie and Steven Kelly to hold their lead.

New this year is a second three day race, where competitors will race stages 4-6. Summit County local, Darren Cheek leads Doug Descheneaux by nearly two hours after day one.

On the enduro side, Franklin took the win in stage three by just tenths of a second over Truitt, while singlespeeder Massey took third. Truitt still retains the lead in the enduro segments.

Today was a day of family and friends, with fathers taking pictures with their daughters at the finish line, and friends gathering to chat rather than running off to recover. The camaraderie at the Breck Epic continues to shine each year, with competitors throwing each other chains and tool bags on course, and finish lines feeling more like a backyard barbecue than a race venue. These are the moments that keep people coming back each year.

On tap for stage 5 is a bucket list ride up and over the saddle between Peaks 8 and 9 on the Wheeler Trail. This is the Epic, however, so the stage doesn’t start with an easy spin up the ski area, but traverses across the bottom of Peak 9 to the backside of Peak 10, where racers will meet up with and begin their literal hike up the Wheeler trail, until they reach the summit where the ride becomes truly memorable. This is a stage not to be missed.

Stage 4 Results

General classification after stage 4