A wise man once said that Matthys Beukes of South Africa would win a stage of the Breck Epic, and today he did just that in the Open Men's race. He came out swinging from the bell, making an early attack that was eventually covered. He regrouped and attacked again, developing a small gap on GC leader Ben Sonntag throughout the day. Second place GC man Ben Melt Swanepoel was able to stay within striking distance of Sonntag most of the day, but was unable to overtake him and hack away at the ten minute gap between him and the top spot on the GC podium.
There was a bit of a shake up in the singlespeed race. F— that. Macky Franklin went Fukushima on stage 4 of the Breck Epic, charging his way like a mad man up to the fourth spot overall, consequently putting ten minutes into Brady Kappius and taking over the singlespeed GC lead. Dax Massey fought valiantly once again, but continued to fall farther behind the GC leaders, snagging himself another third place finish.
The women's race was freaking awesome as well. The battle of the climber and the descender continued with Amanda Carey putting time into Yolandi Du Toit on the descents only to have Yolandi blow by her on the climbs. Amanda said it herself, she is "built like a seal." If she's built like a seal, Yolandi is built like an Alpaca and is just as at home in the high mountains. Du Toit got the better of Carey today, but only by a minute. Carey still holds a nine minute lead in the GC.
Tomorrow's stage doesn't favor a climber or a descender so it'll be interesting to see who comes out on top. Wheeler pass is a major climb that turns into an even more major hike-a-bike. The descent off Wheeler is hairball, but it dumps into a slightly downhill bike path for several miles before reaching the Peaks trail. The peaks trail rolls gently yet technically upward back toward Breckenridge.
Many riders like downhill ultimate bad-ass Ross Schnell have opted to ride a hardtail up Wheeler, switch to a downhill bike for the descent, back to a TT bike for the bike path, then to a trail bike for Peaks trail, and back to a TT bike for the final approach to the finish line in Breckenridge. Some riders may even switch to running shoes for the Wheeler ascent. There is one stipulation if a rider is to make the switch to running shoes — they must have the number "Loser" drawn on their legs and arms with a Sharpie.
Solo Open Men
1 Matthys Beukes 3:27:30
2 Ben Sonntag 0:04:44
3 Benmelt Swanepoel 0:06:27
4 Tostado Josh 0:12:22
5 Calle Friberg 0:13:55
6 Jake Wells 0:13:56
7 Rotem Ishay 0:15:32
8 Nick Truitt 0:19:07
9 Ryan Clark 0:19:23
10 Ezekiel Hersh 0:25:01
11 Shawn Bunnin 0:25:07
12 Sloane Anderson 0:27:12
13 Ross Schnell 0:27:50
14 Peter Watson 0:38:44
15 Matt Woodruff 0:41:27
16 Colby Pearce 0:42:45
17 Nathan Brown 0:42:45
18 Vandendaele Thomas 0:48:06
19 Taylor Lideen 0:49:22
20 Erik Bakke 0:58:46
21 Brent Steinberg 1:07:41
22 Logan Vonbokel 1:36:15
23 Derek Oldfield 2:11:31
24 Warren Stephenson 2:17:53
25 Alex Tibwitta 3:07:39
Solo Open Women
1 Yolandi Du Toit 4:22:31
2 Amanda Carey 0:01:05
3 Laura Gleason 1:58:37
4 Cindy Bonhage 2:04:10
5 Stephanie Wilkinson 2:07:50
Solo Singlespeed Men
1 Macky Franklin 3:37:58
2 Brady Kappius 0:08:53
3 Dax Massey 0:20:57
4 Michael Melley 0:31:23
5 Vince Anderson 0:34:04
6 Nate Miller 0:43:23
7 Hayes Charlie 0:44:34
8 Dan Durland 0:44:52
9 Montana Miller 0:57:27
10 Scott Upton 1:03:04
11 Eric Davis 1:03:53
12 Birtch Dejay 1:08:24
13 Donald Powers 1:09:35
14 Dean Cahow 1:11:26
15 Aaron Shelmire 1:16:02
16 John Odle 1:43:13
17 Rob Lochner 1:49:19
18 Jeremy Palermo 1:55:29
19 Ian Palermo 2:03:22
Solo Singlespeed Women
1 Jennifer Wilson 4:43:09
2 Andrea Wilson 0:21:52
3 Sarah Musick 0:38:39
4 Melissa Liebling 1:38:28
Solo 30 Men
1 James Meyer 4:03:47
2 Johannes Huseby 0:08:31
3 Ian Mills 0:15:49
4 John Heffner 0:27:38
5 Amit Dutta 0:50:27
6 Andrew Jauquet 1:28:13
7 Wu Jeff 1:29:34
8 Joshua Roeser 1:30:07
9 Philip Thompson 1:52:06
Solo 40 Men
1 Jeff Cospolich 4:19:11
2 Shawn Lortie 0:07:08
3 Jason Sumner 0:11:56
4 Mike Driver 0:13:12
5 Stephen Ushy 0:21:13
6 Michael Quinn 0:28:24
7 Charles Gauvin 0:37:26
8 Ken Thorp 0:38:20
9 Brian Neyt 0:53:06
10 Tom Boo 0:53:13
11 David Mccormick 0:53:28
12 Chris Mckillican 0:55:02
13 Brad Shield 1:09:11
14 Chris Castilian 1:20:19
15 Lennie Moon 1:20:20
16 Farhy Nolan 1:45:53
17 Joel Doctor
18 Craig Mcghee 1:48:42
19 John Arguello 1:50:20
20 Ty Garber 2:13:57
21 Moishe Lettvin 2:25:32
Solo 50 Men
1 Russell Kappius 4:12:25
2 Frost Jeffery 0:12:46
3 Bruce Wilson 0:22:44
4 Mike Kane 0:48:29
5 Rick Metzger 1:06:36
6 Carl Gable 1:32:32
7 Stan Mayer 1:48:12
8 Mark Halwa 1:57:27
9 Michael Bowen 2:18:04
10 Lindsay Gauld 2:20:41
11 Brooks Dean 2:24:12
12 Stephen Ostrander 2:43:39
Solo Clydesdale
1 Kreidl Ken 5:29:15
Solo 40 Women
1 Tina Martinez 5:12:17
2 Julie Kelly 0:02:45
3 Laureen Coffelt 0:06:35
4 Julie Urlaub 0:57:22
5 Mindi Hoffmaster 1:40:10
6 Lori Halwa 1:43:37
Duo Open Men
1 Blake Harlan & Bryan Alders 3:56:14
2 Rich Dillen & Peter Keiller 1:50:03
Duo Men 80+
1 Kervin Quinones & Michael Trimble 4:18:39
2 Mike Hogan & Thomas Dooley 0:04:56
3 Tim Brezsnyak & Michael Piker 0:07:57
4 Jason Morgan & Russell Henderson 0:15:17
5 Scott Baca & Sean Fay 0:46:19
Duo Men 100+
1 Russ Asleson & Mark Gourge 4:54:32
2 Joso Dias Da Chunha & Jorg Damas 0:45:05
3 David Reed & John Pougiales 0:52:54
Duo Women
1 Carthy Chan & Linda Green 6:18:54
2 Mary Davis & Rebecca Bruno 0:20:59
Duo Coed
1 John Bliss & Michele Bliss 5:29:44
2 Karen Rishel & Alan Rishel 0:14:01
3 Elden Nelson & Lisa Nelson 0:37:52
3 Day Gran Fondo
1 Mike Blewitt 4:12:05
2 Karen Jarchow 1:14:30
Team Challenge
1 Got Gears Willas Wheels 5:03:49
2 1-Speed Willas Wheels 0:02:14
Solo Open Men general classification after stage 4
1 Ben Sonntag 13:24:18
2 Benmelt Swanepoel 0:11:20
3 Matthys Beukes 0:24:01
4 Tostado Josh 0:28:21
5 Calle Friberg 0:29:42
6 Rotem Ishay 0:38:10
7 Nick Truitt 0:40:23
8 Ryan Clark 1:07:27
9 Ezekiel Hersh 1:19:16
10 Sloane Anderson 1:20:39
11 Jake Wells 1:39:14
12 Shawn Bunnin 1:39:22
13 Nathan Brown 1:57:37
14 Peter Watson 2:05:05
15 Matt Woodruff 2:18:59
16 Ross Schnell 2:37:10
17 Vandendaele Thomas 2:40:20
18 Colby Pearce 2:51:21
19 Taylor Lideen 3:13:55
20 Brent Steinberg 3:42:09
21 Logan Vonbokel 4:33:10
22 Erik Bakke 5:17:57
23 Derek Oldfield 7:26:35
24 Warren Stephenson 8:22:40
25 Alex Tibwitta 11:32:24
Solo Open Women general classification after stage 4
1 Amanda Carey 16:45:58
2 Yolandi Du Toit 0:10:27
3 Laura Gleason 7:19:02
4 Cindy Bonhage 7:49:51
5 Stephanie Wilkinson 7:54:39
Solo Singlespeed Men general classification after stage 4
1 Macky Franklin 14:23:26
2 Brady Kappius 0:04:52
3 Dax Massey 0:36:27
4 Michael Melley 1:08:53
5 Vince Anderson 1:28:35
6 Dan Durland 1:32:27
7 Nate Miller 1:42:47
8 Hayes Charlie 2:11:02
9 Montana Miller 2:59:19
10 Eric Davis 3:16:14
11 Scott Upton 3:30:26
12 Donald Powers 3:31:01
13 Dean Cahow 3:58:22
14 Birtch Dejay 4:06:24
15 Aaron Shelmire 4:29:27
16 Ian Palermo 5:11:11
17 Rob Lochner 5:40:07
18 John Odle 6:08:43
19 Jeremy Palermo 6:35:04
Solo Singlespeed Women general classification after stage 4
1 Jennifer Wilson 18:09:43
2 Andrea Wilson 1:45:58
3 Sarah Musick 3:53:03
4 Melissa Liebling 4:58:51
Solo 30 Men general classification after stage 4
1 James Meyer 15:01:43
2 Johannes Huseby 1:02:10
3 Ian Mills 1:27:05
4 John Heffner 2:34:33
5 Amit Dutta 3:41:37
6 Joshua Roeser 4:36:05
7 Andrew Jauquet 5:16:23
8 Wu Jeff 6:02:09
9 Philip Thompson 7:49:08
Solo 40 Men general classification after stage 4
1 Jeff Cospolich 16:21:17
2 Mike Driver 0:48:08
3 Stephen Ushy 1:08:42
4 Ken Thorp 1:09:22
5 Shawn Lortie 1:46:47
6 Jason Sumner 1:59:36
7 Michael Quinn 2:00:38
8 Charles Gauvin 2:55:43
9 Tom Boo 3:56:16
10 Lennie Moon 4:24:49
11 Brian Neyt 4:27:34
12 Brad Shield 4:32:23
13 Chris Mckillican 4:50:58
14 Chris Castilian 5:00:50
15 David Mccormick 5:20:42
16 Craig Mcghee 6:38:38
17 Farhy Nolan 7:17:56
18 Joel Doctor 7:24:33
19 John Arguello 8:08:56
20 Ty Garber 8:14:09
21 Moishe Lettvin 9:31:18
Solo 50 Men general classification after stage 4
1 Russell Kappius 15:38:16
2 Frost Jeffery 1:38:05
3 Bruce Wilson 2:06:24
4 Mike Kane 2:52:53
5 Rick Metzger 5:00:16
6 Carl Gable 6:04:04
7 Stan Mayer 7:00:12
8 Mark Halwa 8:22:30
9 Lindsay Gauld 8:34:25
10 Michael Bowen 9:27:52
11 Brooks Dean 10:13:53
12 Stephen Ostrander 10:51:29
Solo Clydesdale general classification after stage 4
1 Kreidl Ken 20:10:48
Solo 40 Women general classification after stage 4
1 Tina Martinez 19:49:43
2 Julie Kelly 0:14:00
3 Laureen Coffelt 0:29:38
4 Lori Halwa 4:47:01
5 Julie Urlaub 4:47:05
6 Mindi Hoffmaster 5:29:48
Duo Open Men general classification after stage 4
1 Blake Harlan & Bryan Alders 14:38:58
2 Rich Dillen & Peter Keiller 7:06:36
Duo Men 80+ general classification after stage 4
1 Mike Hogan & Thomas Dooley 16:24:39
2 Kervin Quinones & Michael Trimble 0:12:06
3 Tim Brezsnyak & Michael Piker 0:29:08
4 Jason Morgan & Russell Henderson 1:09:25
5 Scott Baca & Sean Fay 2:25:17
Duo Men 100+ general classification after stage 4
1 Russ Asleson & Mark Gourge 18:42:55
2 David Reed & John Pougiales 3:03:05
3 Joso Dias Da Chunha & Jorg Damas 3:16:45
Duo Women general classification after stage 4
1 Carthy Chan & Linda Green 24:18:57
2 Mary Davis & Rebecca Bruno 0:19:25
Duo Coed general classification after stage 4
1 Karen Rishel & Alan Rishel 21:12:39
2 John Bliss & Michele Bliss 1:17:49
3 Elden Nelson & Lisa Nelson 2:20:06
3 Day Gran Fondo general classification after stage 4
1 Mike Blewitt 18:13:49
2 Karen Jarchow 2:30:31
Team Challenge general classification after stage 4
1 1-Speed Willas Wheels 18:13:18
2 Got Gears Willas Wheels 7:09:37
