Wells and Haywood win stage 5 of the Breck Epic

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Stage five is deceivingly hard. With only eight miles between the start and the highest point on the map for the day, it seemed as though the climb may be short and do-able. However, the Wheeler trail does not comply, and most of that mileage is spent walking next to the bike, rather than riding. Topping out over 12,000 feet, stage 5 is steep and furious, though one of the most scenic stages of the race.

Race leader Todd Wells set the pace early and never let up. By the top of the most substantial climb he had a nearly five-minute lead and that never changed. Alex Grant held tight to second, putting nearly four minutes on Ben Sonntag, while Sonntag held off Takei Kyosuke by two minutes.

While last year competitors stayed tight because of a long section of bike path, today was just the opposite. The gaps were large and racers were forced to work alone into the wind. Those who had a partner coming off of the Wheeler trail descent were lucky and made up time, as Macky Franklin and Michiel Van Aelbroeck proved, when they made up a substantial deficit on Nick Truitt, though Truitt held them off through the finish, with Franklin just three seconds back and Van Aelbroeck two minutes behind.

In the women's race, race leader Amanda Carey and Sue Haywood worked together to finish wheel to wheel, with Alice Piriard in third. Kate Aardal wasn't too far behind in fourth.

In the singlespeed category, Dan Durland took the win, with Carlo Vulgamott in second, and Kurt Gensheimer in third. Overall leader, Dax Massey, came through in sixth, nearly 15 minutes back from Durland. When the time gap became too large, announcer Larry Grossman began wondering what could be holding Massey up. As he crossed the finish line, it was obvious he was quite hurt. A crash on the back side of the Wheeler trail took him 40 feet down a steep embankment and straight into a rock with his ribs. With cracked ribs and a partially punctured lung, Massey is out for stage 6.

Once more, Yuki Ikeda and Jeff Kerkove had a substantial lead in the duo open men category. With an eight-minute time gap today to second place, Ikeda and Kerkove have increased their overall lead to almost two hours. Tomorrow they may take a short nap at the top of Boreas Pass to ensure they head into Gold Dust fully recovered.
For the co-ed duo open, the Raborn team won again, bumping their overall ranking and taking the leaders' jerseys for the first time. Julie and Steven Kelly came in 11 minutes back from the Raborns.

In the enduro, Sonntag took third in yesterday's stage, Massey took second, and Nick Truitt lead the stage. The overall changed up again, with Derek Bisset taking the third step, Macky Franklin the second, and Truitt retaining his overall lead. On the women's side, Shannon Gibson was third on the day, Haywood was second, and Aardal took the win, while the overall changed to Pirard in third, Haywood in second, and Aardal retaining the lead once more.

For the final stage, racers will head up Boreas Pass road and down the mining-flume-turned-singletrack Gold Dust trail. The trail swoops and dives through the forest and just the right pitch for the ultimate fun factor. Near the bottom, the flume deepens and riders can imagine what it felt like when water flowed quickly down the trail. A long slog back up Boreas Pass Road is the only obstacle between the rider and the Breck Epic Finisher's belt buckle. Ride on, racers, ride on.

Stage 5 Results

General classification after stage 5