Nick Waite (ProTested) and Cheryl Sornson (Rare Disease Cycling) earned the pro men's and women's victories at the end of stage 4 of the Trans-Sylvania Epic mountain bike stage race on Wednesday. However, it wasn't Waite who was first across the line. Instead, under 25 racer Payson McElveen (Richard's Rainwater) was the first man to finish - though he is scored separately among his fellow U25s.

Waite finished ahead of overall leader Jeremiah Bishop (Sho-Air/Cannondale) and Thomas Turner (Jamis) while Sornson claimed the victory ahead of Mary McConneloug (Kenda/NoTubes) and Selene Yeager (Rare Disease Cycling). Emily Shields (BMC Project Dirt) was the first under 25 woman to finish.

Billed as the road stage of the week due to its high fraction of fireroads and pavement, riders still faced some challenging rocky singletrack, made all the more treacherous by massive overnight storms. However, with the prevalent road bits, the favorites often came back together on the road sections and tactics played a big role throughout.

At the end of the day, Bishop and Sornson successfully defended their yellow jerseys.

Men

Kris Sneddon (Kona) was the first to animate the race as he rode off the front during the first enduro section.

"I just wanted to ride the trail sections fast and the downhills fast because they play to my strengths," said Sneddon.

The group of GC contenders eventually caught Sneddon ahead of the first feed zone, but then Sneddon rode away again on another enduro section. He gained even more time on the treacherous Fisherman's Path section.

Behind him, teammate Spencer Paxson tried to close, with Waite in tow. Race leader Bishop felt the pressure and pushed hard to close back to the two chasers.

By the end of the Fisherman's Path and subsequent famous railroad tunnel, most of the favorites including Bishop, Waite, Thomas Turner, Paxson, McElveen, Peter Glassford, Cole Oberman and Ben Sonntag, were back together again and Sneddon was still of the front alone.

At this point, Sneddon decided to go with it.

"I probably had 30 seconds to one minute, so I decided to just ride hard. Those guys climb harder than I do, but I figured I'd see where I could end up. I needed about another minute," said Sneddon. "I had as much as 1:30. They caught me at the second feed zone."

Sneddon was caught as Waite and Bishop started to push the pace.

"I had a great day and sat in for most of it until it started getting a bit frisky at the end," said Waite. "Then on the long climb up to the last feed station, Cole Oberman went for it and was off the front for five or six miles, but I knew we had enough diesel in our group that we could get him back."

Oberman had launched a bold attack, but it was too early. On the final climb, he was caught by Waite leading Bishop. Only McElveen could follow the dynamic duo.

"Today was even more awesome than Monday. Going into the stage, I figured it was one of my best chances to win a stage," said McElveen. "I think Jeremiah has more strength and fitness than me, but I thought if I played my cards right, I could do something sneaky at the end and it kind of played out that way."

"Jeremiah was at the limit on the final climb, and I felt like I had a little more left. It was so hard, I wanted to give up so badly. I had that inner dialogue going on about how I wasn't really racing them, but I really wanted to beat them."

Going into the finale, it was just the three of them. They were skidding around corners with one foot out and Waite and Bishop both overcooked one ofthem. It left just enough room for McElveen to sneak past.

"Luckily on one corner, Jeremiah and Nick went wide and I went inside. I had one more 20-second climb, and I just went as hard as I could. I finished maybe three seconds in front of Nick," said McElveen.

Bishop was just happy to keep his yellow jersey. "I was obviously thinking about the yellow jersey and keeping it rubber side down. It was a very different stage than any of the others. I was just glad to hold on to the yellow. Mission accomplished."

Thomas Turner (Jamis) claimed third place on the day, despite trying to also chase the enduro segments, which meant stopping to swipe his chip and then chasing back on a few times.

Women

In the women's category, Cheryl Sornson battled Mary McConneloug (Kenda NoTubes) for the win. McConneloug was in the lead at times, especially during the enduro sections, but Sornson would always catch her back and eventually rode away from McConneloug on the final climb.

"Mary got away from me on the enduro section while I was being cautious, but I caught her back. Later I got away from her, but she got me again on another enduro section. From then on, were together. I think I do better when the pace is high so Mary and I just went as hard as we could and it was fun," said Sornson.

McConneloug said, "I was trying to get the best time I could and maybe win the stage, but Cheryl was really strong. I was back on my race bike with 29er wheels and not such big rubber. I felt good and I could go at the start and not miss that group. It was a fun day, but hard. It was good to spin it out."

Selene Yeager (Rare Disease Cycling) took third. "This was a good day for me with all its power climbs - I was looking forward to it. I knew Cheryl would go hot off the line and I figured I'd hang as long as I could. I spent some time with Vicky Barclay. Cheryl has a healthy lead, but everything else is fairly tight in the top cluster."

Going into stage 5, Sornson kept her lead. "I feel better and have a pretty good cushion, but anything can happen," she said.

Under 25 men and women

By virtue of being the first man across the line, Payson McElveen also was the fastest U25 men's rider. Cole Oberman took second spot, in the chase group, just behind the three leaders. McElveen continues to lead the U25 men's GC.

Emily Shields (BMC Project Dirt) won both the stage and took over the lead in the U25 women's category. The road stage suited her.

"I've done road longer than mountain biking, but 'cross the longest, so today was good for me," said Shields.

"I was by myself most of the day though I didn't catch previous race leader Kaysee Armstrong until just before the final hill. Then I kind of rode away from her on hill. What I'm really psyched about is being sixth fastest among the pro women."

Results