Grant and Dixon wins Breck Epic stage 4

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It was day four of the Breck Epic and the mental hump has been scaled. Racers were over half way done after this stage and shorter stages are in sight. Yesterday may have been the Queen stage, but today is no easy ride. Day four held the most mileage as well as the most climbing, yet the climbing mellowed out a bit for a faster ride.

Racers started out on well-loved local trails before contouring over towards Keystone. After dropping down mountain-side singletrack, the racers found themselves on a road to the first aid station. Many riders raced smart and grouped up, drafting down the road. The first 10 men rolled through the aid together. Alex Grant, Kyosuke Takei, Joan Llordella, Bryan Dillon, and Brad Bingham were all in the lead group. Not a minute later, the second group rolled through with local Nick Truitt yelling that Ben Sonntag had a flat. After a quick change, Sonntag was off chasing again. Although it took him a bit to get his head back in the race, by the third aid station he had pulled within a minute of the lead group.

Within half an hour, over 100 racers had rolled through aid one, including the top women Catherine Williamson and Marlee Dixon coming through together. Kate Aardal and Kelly Boniface also came through together about a minute behind the first two.

Men's solo six-day 30+ leader, Galo Tamayo Teran was glaringly absent from the top 20 men, and after nearly half an hour, he came through aid one with a flat, asking for a new rear tire. After getting fixed up, he was off chasing.

Two hours later the top five men, Grant, Llordella, Dillon, Takei, and pro road racer Taylor Shelden were still working together. Soon though, Grant and Takei took it up a notch and by the end of the 44-mile day, Grant took the win with Takei close behind. For the offical results, Lllordella came in second, and Dillon had his first podium finish. Sonntag pulled himself up to fourth, while Shelden held on for fifth on the day.

The women switched it up for the finish as well, Dixon had her second win, while Williamson came through second, and Aardal managed a third place finish.

In the new three day race, Topeak-Ergon's Yuki Ikeda took the solo men's win with a convincing 26-minute lead over Ricky Willis. The second three-day race was new last year and only saw a couple of racers. This year it has grown to 37 competitors.

In the women's three-day race, Victoria Calisto also won by 27 minutes, with Amy Caldwell and Grace Ragland in second and third.

On tap for tomorrow is a climb over the ski area to nearly 12,000 feet once again, before dropping down to yet another piece of Colorado trail. The race then heads back on the technical Peaks trail. Tomorrow should be shorter, but it still holds two or three sections of hiking.

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