Whipple Dam stage shuffles men's GC

Stage six of the Trans-Sylvania Epic was labeled in the race bible as the "Queen Stage", but little did riders know that the Queen would take some heads with her. The men's open race ended with the top six men scorching the most technical course of the race in under two hours. Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing) took top honors for the day almost 30 seconds over Drew Edsall (Yeti).

"We all started sweating pretty quickly," said Grant.

It was another humid day of racing in the Pennsylvania woods, but the real sweat factor was caused by a battle for the second place position at the end of tomorrow. The early spark of Evan Plews (evanplews.com) faded, along with his solid second place for the first half of the Epic.

With Grant's finish on the day and two days of smart riding from local Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com), the battle for second overall amongst three people is only split by seven seconds going into the last day. Even more stunning is the fact that Draugelis and Grant are in a tie for the second place after six days of racing, and it is Christian Tanguy (Team CF) who is seven seconds behind.

Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing) flatted during the stage and lost a fair amount of time that would have put anyone else in trouble, but his large time gap over second kept him safe. Blake Harlan (Jamis) had a steady day in the rocks and managed to take fifth which moved him up to seventh overall.

Mark Weir of Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB) has been loving the last two days, even calling today's trails "the funnest stuff I've ridden in a long time. That Tussey Ridge is beautiful." His results are reflecting the fun he's having and his building fitness. With three days in a row of seventh place finishes, Weir has moved up to an eighth overall in the general classification.

Selene Yeager (Team CF) continued her impressive defense of the leader jersey with a stage victory and opened up further time gains on her competitors. Karen Potter (MTBRaceNews.com) caught Yeager on two occasions during the stage, showing her prowess in the rocks, but was unable to come around the woman who has a seemingly insurmountable lead in the GC competition.

Showing that it is not wise to count him out, Alec Petro (Team Psycho) narrowed the gap to Garth Prosser (Cannondale Factory Racing) significantly today and now sits only 1:30 behind Prosser on the leader board for the singlespeeders.

Meanwhile, the duo, singlespeed and tandem categories remained essentially unaltered.

With only seven seconds separating second through fourth in the men's GC, tomorrow's final stage promises to be a hard fought battle on the remaining trails in the Trans-Sylvania Epic. It is likely the masters will also find themselves in a fight with Petro and Prosser separated by such small margin at this point in the race. Meanwhile the riders in the other categories are planning a "Tour de France-style fun final stage" complete with local wines and horseplay reflecting their enjoyment of the inaugural Trans-Sylvania Epic.

Full Results

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Men open
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing)1:53:41
2Drew Edsall (Yeti)0:00:27
3Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com Racing Team)0:03:21
4Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing)0:05:22
5Blake Harlan (Team Jamis)Row 4 - Cell 2
6Christian Tanguy (Team CF)0:05:26
7Mark Weir (WTB)0:07:35
8Mike Yozell (PAValleys.com)0:09:34
9Evan Plews (www.evanplews.com)0:09:38
10Ben Cruz (WTB)0:15:50
11Mike Festa (Philadelphia Ciclismo)0:16:01
12Mike Cushionbury (Bicycling magazine/SMC)0:17:11
13Jason Moeschler (WTB)0:18:24
14Nathan Ruch0:31:20
15Tim Darwick (The Bicycle Shop Inc.)0:32:55
16Jake Davidson (Fast Forward Racing)0:32:58
17Michael Wissel (back bay bicycles/ espresso royale caffe)0:51:58
18James Spurk (City Cycle)0:52:19
19Jarret Kinder (Memphis Velo/Smith and Nephew)1:02:29
20Joseph Castle (What would Jay do?)1:10:54
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Women open
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Selene Yeager (Team CF)2:20:54
2Karen Potter (MTBracenews.com)0:01:21
3Rebecca Rusch (Specialized)0:15:35
4Kathy Evans0:31:23
5Rachael Mirvish (mirvishracing.com)0:42:06
6Liz Notter (The Bike Lane)0:50:50
7Susan Williams (Memphis Velo/Smith and Nephew)0:53:53
8Laura Gleason (Giordana Clif Bar)1:16:51
9Kerry Combs (Hup United-JBV Coaching)1:26:19
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Men singlespeed
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Greg Martin (Club Ride Apparel)2:20:56
2Douglas Jenne (High Gear Cyclery / Ghostship Clothing)0:00:02
3Rich Dillen (TEAMDICKY)0:04:32
4David Cormier (CVC / Subaru of New England)0:12:31
5Peter Keiller (Misfit Psycles)0:24:56
6Tanya Hanham (Tall Tree Cycles)0:37:55
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Men 40+
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Alec Petro (Team Psycho)2:05:44
2Alex Hawkins0:03:55
3Garth Prosser0:08:04
4Mike Stevens (Bike Line)0:16:06
5John Kuhn (Cranford Bike Team/CTS)0:16:35
6Doug Lange0:28:52
7Dave Pryor (Urban Bourbon)0:48:30
8Pete Fraker (Plum Grove Cyclery)0:56:29
9James Taylor (Cross Country Cycle)2:08:05
10Philippe Ortiz2:16:03
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Co-ed Duo
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Kim Jones/Marc Risdale Duo (Misfit Psycles)
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Women duo
#Rider Name (Country) Team
2Nikki Thiemann (Team Cystic Fibrosis)
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Tandem co-ed
#Rider Name (Country) Team
1Rob Lichtenwalner (PAValleys.com)
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Men open general classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing)11:48:28
2Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com Racing Team)0:14:04
3Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Christian Tanguy (Team CF)0:14:11
5Evan Plews (www.evanplews.com)0:19:49
6Drew Edsall (Yeti)0:21:02
7Blake Harlan (Team Jamis)0:43:46
8Mark Weir (WTB)1:26:42
9Jason Moeschler (WTB)1:45:06
10Mike Festa (Philadelphia Ciclismo)1:48:00
11Mike Yozell (PAValleys.com)1:56:01
12Ben Cruz (WTB)2:23:37
13Michael Wissel (back bay bicycles/ espresso royale caffe)3:21:45
14Nathan Ruch3:23:20
15Mike Cushionbury (Bicycling magazine/SMC)3:27:17
16Jake Davidson (Fast Forward Racing)4:09:04
17James Spurk (City Cycle)4:37:02
18Jarret Kinder (Memphis Velo/Smith and Nephew)5:31:08
19Tim Darwick (The Bicycle Shop Inc.)6:17:32
20Joseph Castle (What would Jay do?)8:55:30
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Women general classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Selene Yeager (Team CF)14:32:04
2Karen Potter (MTBracenews.com)0:21:58
3Rebecca Rusch (Specialized)0:42:08
4Rachael Mirvish (mirvishracing.com)4:20:49
5Laura Gleason (Giordana Clif Bar)6:11:16
6Susan Williams (Memphis Velo/Smith and Nephew)6:33:03
7Kerry Combs (Hup United-JBV Coaching)8:35:08
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Men singlespeed general classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Greg Martin (Club Ride Apparel)14:18:39
2Douglas Jenne (High Gear Cyclery / Ghostship Clothing)0:18:06
3Rich Dillen (TEAMDICKY)0:31:44
4David Cormier (CVC / Subaru of New England)2:11:54
5Peter Keiller (Misfit Psycles)2:27:59
6Tanya Hanham (Tall Tree Cycles)4:01:28
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Men 40+ General classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Garth Prosser13:26:26
2Alec Petro (Team Psycho)0:01:29
3Alex Hawkins0:50:08
4Mike Stevens (Bike Line)1:05:56
5John Kuhn (Cranford Bike Team/CTS)1:53:58
6Pete Fraker (Plum Grove Cyclery)4:12:55
7Doug Lange4:38:13
8James Taylor (Cross Country Cycle)9:24:45
9Dave Pryor (Urban Bourbon)0:46:56
10Philippe Ortiz0:12:52
11Unknown3:23:12
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Duo Co-ed General classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Kim Jones/Marc Risdale Duo (Misfit Psycles)21:50:02
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Duo women general classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
2Kristin Gavin/Nikki Theiman Duo (Team Cystic Fibrosis)13:04:33
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Tandem co-ed general classification after stage 6
#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Rob Lichtenwalner (PAValleys.com)13:59:11

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