Bishop and Sornson win stage 1 of Trans-Sylvania Epic

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Jeremiah Bishop (Sho-Air/Cannondale) and Cheryl Sornson (Rare Diseases Cycling Team) kicked off the Trans-Sylvania Epic with a stage 1 time trial victory on Sunday afternoon in central Pennsylvania.

Men

Bishop set a blazing fast 1:03:13 time over the approximately 15-mile course, gaining about a minute and a half on his nearest rival Ben Sonntag (Stan's NoTubes Elite) and third place finisher Nick Waite (ProTested Gear).

"I'm fired up to come here and put my stamp on the race from the beginning," said Bishop to Cyclingnews. "You never know in a time trial how you're going, but it's a great win for Sho-Air/Cannondale after a dry spell. Whatever happens the rest of the week, I'm going for it."

"I'm going to try and ride smart this week. There are a lot of other talented riders here to push me, like former La Ruta de los Conquistadores winner Ben Sonntag," said Bishop. "He only gets better day to day. I'm going to take it day by day and try to sink my teeth into it."

Sonntag was content with finish. "It was good to start this off with a second place. This time trial gave us a good idea of what's coming up," he said to Cyclingnews. "It was a mix of dirt roads and rough singletrack. My first 10 minutes weren't too good, but once I opened up, I had a smooth run. Toward the end, I clipped a tree and it maybe cost me 20 seconds, but overall the results were not shocking. It's not surprising that Jeremiah put time on us. If this were LeTour, they would give him five stars and the rest of us maybe three stars."

"It's a long week and a lot can happen. Consistency is key here," said Sonntag.

Former road pro Waite joked to Cyclingnews, "I've been on the beet juice so my heart rate was a little lower than normal. I've been beet juice doping a lot. I tried to ride fast but stay safe. The trails were super twisty - I feel optimistic after today."

Another pre-race favorite, Justin Lindine (Redline/NBX), who won last year's race, finished 17th after flatting during the time trial. He finished over nine minutes behind Bishop.

Women

Sornson was elated with her win, having met her goal of winning a stage in this year's race.

"It was a long, gnarly, technical, epic time trial. I didn't know what to expect, and you never know what your fitness is like," said Sornson to Cyclingnews. "I definitely wanted to win a stage, and I'm excited. I'd like to keep the leader's jersey, but it's a long week, and the competition is super high this week."

"I pre-rode the course yesterday and it was muddy - it rained on me and the course was slow, and I thought, it was more like a proper stage than a time trial. But today, it was dry and running fast. The 30-second intervals were enough to help me catch people and stay motivated. I had lots of carrots to chase and push me. I knew I was doing well when I caught some of my competition."

Sornson finished her time trial in a time of 1:15:59, and she gained an advantage of more than a minute on her nearest competition, Mary McConneloug (Kenda/Stan's NoTubes).

"I know it's a long week, so I went into today pretty calm," said McConneloug to Cyclingnews. "I wasn't ready to turn it inside out. If you do that this early, you pay for it the rest of the week. Cheryl caught me 20 minutes into the race, but I didn't worry about it. I tried to maintain and ride strong and swift."

"Cheryl is an amazing rider and I'm excited for the week. I'm looking forward to making up some time out there somewhere this week."

Behind them, Sarah Kaufmann (NoTubes Women's Elite Team) was third. With third through fifth places separated by just 22 seconds, the women's race is shaping up to be a tight one.

"I had the benefit of starting last which is nice cause I got to chase everyone. I didn't have to worry about getting demoralized when people went by me," said Kaufmann to Cyclingnews. "It was nice to be around others, and I could use them to gage."

Under 25 men and women

Ellen Noble (Bear Development Team) and Payson McElveen (Richard's Rainwater) were the fastest female and male U25 riders on the day and became the best young rider leaders.

Noble said, "It was a hard race to do because you want to go all out to catch the person in front of you and to stay with the person who's passing you. It's a hard mental game not to overdo it. I'm loving the technical conditions - being from Maine, it's nice to have a technical race for once."

"I'll see what I can do for the rest of the week. The goal is to finish and if I can win the U25 overall, that would be great, but I don't want to blow myself up trying to do it."

McElveen was pleased with his time trial and said, "I didn't know what to expect, but I found a pretty good groove out there on the climbs. It worked out well."

"I'm happy to have the jersey, but I can tell it will be tight racing with Cole Oberman in second and three to five other guys with a shot. I'm going to have be on my game and be my best every day."

Stage 1 and General classification after stage 1 results