Bishop, Yeager win inaugural Trans-Sylvania Epic

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Three riders. Two podium positions. Seven seconds.

Alex Grant (Cannondale Factory Racing). Brandon Draugelis (PAValleys.com). Christian Tanguay (Team CF).

That was all the information needed to know that the final day of the inaugural Trans-Sylvania Epic would be anything but processional for the elite men's field. With six days behind them and a GC that was anything but locked in save for a solid lead by Cannondale's Jeremiah Bishop, the legs and lungs of these battle weary racers were tested a final time on the final stage of Trans-Sylvania Epic.

Trusting his improving form, having already erased a double digit deficit from the start of the week to stand tied for second, Cannondale's Grant, with help from teammate Bishop, used the tactic of hitting them hard and hitting them early to put Tanguay, racing with an deep muscle bruise sustained the previous day, into difficulty before the race had left the race headquarters' trails.

Continuing to pile on the pressure, Grant slowly and gradually pulled away from Draugelis eventually putting more than two minutes into the PAValleys.com racer and locking up second place on the final podium. Not content to allow this three-way battle to be the only drama on the day, Drew Edsall (Yeti) added to the excitement by making the move with the Cannondale riders and eating into his deficit to Draugelis and Tanguay as well. Draugelis held off the Yeti threat but Edsall was able to take the time out of Tanguay needed to vault into fourth overall due in part to a course deviation by the Frenchman from Team CF.

The four riders who deviated from the correct course included masters' second place Alec Petro (Team Psycho), who was making an inspired charge for the lead held by Cannondale's Garth Prosser. So inspired was Petro that he was able to overcome both the added time from the mistake and the initial 1:30 he was behind at the start of the day and take the overall victory in the 40+ competition. Prosser finished second while Alex Hawkins rounded out the masters' GC podium.

With GC battles locked up at the start of the day in the women's, singlespeed, duo and tandem categories, most riders were content with a "rolling party" final stage punctuated with adult beverage breaks and general relishing in the accomplishment of completing the week of challenging East Coast courses offered up by Trans-Sylvania.

Selene Yeager (Team CF) rolled across the line first for the women and also locked up the overall GC ahead of Karen Potter (MTBRaceNews.com) and Rebecca Rusch (Team Specialized). The singlespeeders mixed it up with Tanya Hanham, Peter Keiller and David Cormier on the stage podium and Greg Martin taking overall victory ahead of Greg Jenne and Rich Dillon. Marc Risdale and Kim Jones took the overall win in duo while Rob and Sara Lichtenwalner rode home with the tandem victory.

Every participant completing the seven Trans-Sylvania stages walked away from the final awards ceremony sporting medals that succinctly summed up the determination and dedication required by these men and women to overcome the challenges thrown at them this week.

Full Results