Wells wins in Leadville

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Specialized riders Todd Wells and Rebecca Rusch each scored impressive solo wins at the Leadville 100 in Colorado on Saturday.

Rusch had to battle back from an early deficit when she was riding in fifth place during the first half of the out-and-back 103-mile race that starts and finishes in Leadville, at an elevation of 10,152 feet.

But with only a two-minute gap between the self-proclaimed Queen of Pain and the front of the race, Rusch was nonplussed as she hit the base of the infamous Columbine climb, with a peak elevation of 12,550 feet. There she quickly closed down a two-minute deficit to then-race leader Gretchen Reeves.

"I love that climb and two minutes is not a lot of time in a 100-mile race," said Rusch, who went on to capture her third straight Leadville title in a course record time of 7:31:46. "I'm a diesel so it takes me a while to get going sometimes."

Reeves (Tokyo Joe's), who won this race in 2007, held on for second, 3:52 behind Rusch. Early race leader Pua Mata (Sho Air-Specialized) was third at 6:04. Jenny Smith and Tammy Jacques rounded out the top five.

Mata may well have been the strongest rider in the race, but a rash of mechanicals and bad luck wrecked havoc on her day. Among the maladies were several chain drops, a poorly shifting drivetrain, a cracked wheel and a front tire puncture.

"It wasn't meant to be for me today," said Mata, who will try to regroup as she heads over to nearby Summit County to contest the three-day Breck Epic this week. "Hopefully I got all my bad luck out of the way."

Another favorite who suffered bad luck in the form of several flats was 100-mile race queen Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt).  Seeing that her chances to win were gone, she eventually DNFed and decided to save the energy for other hundreds yet to come.

Wells also benefited from the mishaps of his foes. Pre-race co-favorite Alban Lakata (Topeak-Ergon) flatted early in the race and was forced to chase hard for the next several hours. Meanwhile, Wells found himself in a solid breakaway of four that included Jay Henry (Tokyo Joe's), Greg Krause (juwi-Solar) and eventual third-place finisher Alex Grant (Cannondale).

That foursome hit the base of the base of the race-deciding Columbine climb with a four-minute advantage on Lakata, Gerry Cody (Team Herbalife) and Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale), who also flatted early and had to take a wheel from teammate Tinker Juarez.

Once on the climb, both Wells and Lakata turned on the jets, dropping their respective companions. But Lakata had one extra gear, and managed to shut down the gap to Wells as well.

Wells admitted being concerned when he saw Lakata roll up near the top of the climb. "That was a big effort so I knew he was riding well," he said.

From there the reigning US and Austrian national cross country champions rode wheel-to-wheel back down Columbine and along the flats that lead to the day's final test, the precipitous Powerline climb. But before they even reached that ascent, Lakata was showing cracks, clearly weakened by his monstrous effort on Columbine.

Wells was able to slowly pull away, owning a one-minute lead on Powerline and drawing it out to 4:19 by the finish line. Wells' winning time was 6:23:38, six minutes short of Levi Leipheimer’s course record, but two minutes quicker than Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski's second place time last year.

"I know I can't compete with those Tour de France guys, but JHK and I do similar races so I was gunning for his time once I got away from Alban," said Wells. "I got it so that was cool."

Grant was third, at 11:54, with Henry and Bishop completing the top five.