A Race best Finish for Matt & Sam
August 14th, 2008 by Ricky BlayneyIt took a while for results to become available between stage four and five but like busses they all came along at once so I shall back date them and post stage 5, 6 and 7 results now. Stage 5 was a tad shorter than 4 but still no rest day. 88km of tough climbs seen no change at the top of the overall but a race best 25th place finish for Matty & Sam placed them 2nd out of the British/Irish teams improving them to 38th overall. Click below for Results and Standings.
STAGE 5, Whiteswan Lake to Elkford, 88km ——————————————————————————————- TOP 6 ——————————————————————————————- 1 Kris Sneddon (Can) / Max Plaxton (Can) Kris & Max 4.01.18 2 Andreas Hestler (Can) / Chris Sheppard (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles +3.50 3 Stefan Widmer (Can) / Marty Lazarski (Can) Rocky Mountain +6.02 4 Cameron Jette (Can) / Peter Glassford (Can) Team Trek Store +6.43 5 Marzio Deho (Ita) / Johnny Cattaneo (Ita) Olympia +9.43 6 Matthew Hadley (Can) / Frederic Bussieres (Can) Xprezo.ca +13.18 ——————————————————————————————- BRITISH & IRISH ——————————————————————————————- 14 Evan Ryan (Irl) / David Gill (Irl) Team WORC 34.12 25 Matty Blayney (GBr) / Samuel Craig (GBr) North Down +1.20.40 27 Adrian Scott (GBr) / Gavin Rumbles (GBr) Team UK +1.22.46 31 Andrew Dye (GBr) / Jacek Doniec (Pol) Fig Rolls Racing +1.26.58 34 Ben Smyth (GBr) / David Cornelius (USA) Transatlantic +1.36.05 37 Andrew Mitchell (GBr) / Daniel Craigen (GBr) Team Dandy +1.38.52 38 Blake Crouch (GBr) / Graham Jones (GBr) Go North +1.43.32 40 David Bocquet (GBr) / Magnus Mill (GBr) Gsb1 +1.48.50 41 Christian Ellis (GBr) / Ian Lindley (GBr) Www.Maxgear.co.uk +1.54.59 45 Martin Williams (GBr) / Richard Armishaw (GBr) On Yer Bike Son +2.03.39 46 Hamish Bingley (GBr) / Peter Windridge (GBr) Warwick Uni Old Boys +2.03.44 50 Stuart Hannon (Irl) / Bryan Keaveny (Irl) Team Isands +2.10.09 53 Adam Smith (GBr) / Lee Marston (GBr) Gsb 3 +2.16.50 64 Rolf Woodward (GBr) / Jeremy Woodward (GBr) Chromag/ Rolf’s Pukk +2.32.21 71 Ewan Nicholson (GBr) / James Beresford-Lambert (GBr) Shelsux +2.51.58 73 Steven Joyce (GBr) / Jon Hayes (GBr) Ridebike.Co.uk +2.53.36 78 Rick Banks (GBr) / Stuart Bond (Aus) The Methley Massive +3.07.13 80 William Church (GBr) / Rob Colliver (GBr) South Downs Way +3.07.44 83 Steven Cranfield (GBr) / Brian Robinson (GBr) Sevets +3.30.28 87 Stefan Kogut (GBr) / Andrew Pollard (GBr) Asia Boys +3.59.34 90 Chris Johnstone (GBr) / Alasdair Johnstone (GBr) Y Not! +4.27.34 ——————————————————————————————- LAST ——————————————————————————————- 93 Ryan Probert (Can) / John Bayko (Can) The Bike Shop +5.17.12 ——————————————————————————————- GENERAL CLASSIFICATION ——————————————————————————————- TOP 6 ——————————————————————————————- 1 Marzio Deho (Ita) / Johnny Cattaneo (Ita) Olympia 14.17.37 2 Kris Sneddon (Can) / Max Plaxton (Can) Kris & Max +9.54 3 Stefan Widmer (Can) / Marty Lazarski (Can) Rocky Mountain - Milliken Deve. +19.06 4 Andreas Hestler (Can) / Chris Sheppard (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles Pro 1 +33.38 5 Keith Hickerson (USA) / Evan Plews (USA) Scott USA/ Tamarack +54.21 6 Brian Cooke (Can) / Steve Gaffney (Can) Opus +1.04.29 ——————————————————————————————- BRITISH & IRISH ——————————————————————————————- 16 Evan Ryan (Irl) / David Gill (Irl) Team Worc +3.06.31 21 Adrian Scott (GBr) / Gavin Rumbles (GBr) Team Uk +4.49.13 33 Blake Crouch (GBr) / Graham Jones (GBr) Go North +6.34.10 35 Andrew Dye (GBr) / Jacek Doniec (Pol) Fig Rolls Racing +6.44.03 38 Matty Blayney (GBr) / Samuel Craig (GBr) North Down +6.57.57 40 Hamish Bingley (GBr) / Peter Windridge (GBr) Warwick Uni Old Boys +7.17.37 41 Ben Smyth (GBr) / David Cornelius (USA) Transatlantic +7.28.32 42 Andrew Mitchell (GBr) / Daniel Craigen (GBr) Team Dandy +7.36.20 43 Christian Ellis (GBr) / Ian Lindley (GBr) Www.Maxgear.co.uk +7.52.31 48 David Bocquet (GBr) / Magnus Mill (GBr) Gsb1 +8.32.05 52 Stuart Hannon (Irl) / Bryan Keaveny (Irl) Team Isands +8.51.02 58 Rolf Woodward (GBr) / Jeremy Woodward (GBr) Chromag/ Rolf’s Pukka Parts +9.18.28 60 Martin Williams (GBr) / Richard Armishaw (GBr) On Yer Bike Son +9.20.39 61 Adam Smith (GBr) / Lee Marston (GBr) Gsb 3 +9.35.03 66 Steven Joyce (GBr) / Jon Hayes (GBr) Ridebike.co.uk +10.01.15 78 Ewan Nicholson (GBr) / James Beresford-Lambert (GBr) Shelsux +11.34.12 81 Steven Cranfield (GBr) / Brian Robinson (GBr) Sevets +12.04.13 82 William Church (GBr) / Rob Colliver (GBr) South Downs Way +12.08.17 87 Rick Banks (GBr) / Stuart Bond (Aus) The Methley Massive +13.50.21 88 Chris Johnstone (GBr) / Alasdair Johnstone (GBr) Y Not! +14.19.59 92 Stefan Kogut (GBr) / Andrew Pollard (GBr) Asia Boys +15.53.55 ——————————————————————————————- LAST ——————————————————————————————- 94 Steven Feller (USA) / Brett Feller (USA) Drug Worlds/Carl Hart Cycles +24.18.27 ——————————————————————————————-
The following is the report from Cycling News:
Deho and Cattaneo hold onto lead despite multiple mechanicals
500 riders rolled out of Whiteswan Lake for an 89km trek through some remote and spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery on their way to the finish line in Elkford, a small mining community in the heart of the Canadian Rockies which sits in and is named for Elk Valley. They would face 2,150m of climbing in two huge passes during the stage bringing the total climbing over the first five days up to over 12,500 metres-as much climbing as was contained during the entire seven-day event in 2007.
Starting at the 68km mark, Crossing Creek Pass was the second of the two major passes tackled during the day, forcing the riders to grunt up over 700m of vertical on rough and technical jeep track before topping out at over 2,200 metres elevation. From there, the riders had 20km of straight descending to the finish line…a seemingly straightforward task except that several kilometres of it were the legendary Rock Garden, a heinous scree slope made of up millions of big sharp boulders. Only the most brave and smooth are able to ride their bikes through the entire length of the section and most are forced off their bikes for chunks of the ride.
After three days in the backcountry, the riders descended into Elkford like a bunch of large, sweaty locusts, devouring every slice of pizza, order of fries and cheeseburger that the town could muster as they fueled up for the 102km and 3,000m of climbing which awaited during stage six.
It was a day of battles on the trail, as a blazing sun and a slew of mechanical failures added an extra element of challenge to the day’s grind.
In the prolific open men’s category, the impressive Italian duo of Marzio Deho and Johnny Cattaneo, who nabbed three first place finishes in the first four days of racing, managed to hang on to the overall lead after suffering five flats and a broken chain. Though placing fifth in the day’s stage, Deho and Cattaneo have a 10 minute lead in the overall standings ahead of Kris Sneddon and Max Plaxton of Canada, who have been persistently nipping at their heels all week.
Sneddon and Plaxton grabbed their first top finish today, after placing lower on the podium throughout most of the week. That secured them a second place overall and no doubt fuelled their thirst for first with only two stages left.
Rounding out the top five in the overall standings are Stefan Widmer and Marty Lazarski in third place, Andreas Hestler and Chris Sheppard in fourth, and Keith Hickerson and Evan Plews in fifth.
Observers this year have noticed the increased competition and excitement in the open men’s category, which has grown from a typical field of four or five competitive teams in previous years to a fierce and ambitious posse of eight to ten pairs all duking it out for final prize money. Deho and Cattaneo had best put some extra padding in their lead during stage six, or top spot could be up for grabs come Saturday’s final leg.
Lowery and Randall continue to extend their lead
American’s Carey Lowery and Lisa Randall have been riding away with the top open women’s spot all week, with a sweep of five straight first place finishes. As of the close of stage five, the pair has put nearly two hours of lead time between themselves and second place team Amy Guidinger and Meghan Osborne of Canada. Guidinger and Osborne have taken second place every day thus far, and themselves maintain a hefty nearly-two-hour lead over third place Canadian pair Angie Bryans and Inga Ivany in the overall standings.
Consistently rounding out the top five are Teri Majer and Shelley Mattson and Allison Greer and Julia Lovecchio.
Other categories
In the open mixed race, asimilar story is unfolding. The top two spots appear to be locked up, while the third remains up for grabs with two stages to go. Defending champions and husband-and-wife Normon Thibault and Wendy Simms don’t appear to be handing their title over this year, with 47 minutes of lead time between themselves and second place pair Steven Wallace and Katerina Nash, though with two big days ahead anything is possible. David Harris and Lynda Wallenfels are currently sitting in third place overall with a 12 minute advantage over fourth place.
The remaining top ten teams in open mixed are within an hour of each other, and third through fifth place are mere minutes apart. With such a close field, there’s little doubt teams in the top ten plan to cruise through the final stages - more likely it will be a grind to the finish for anyone wanting a piece of the CAN$20,000 in prize money up for grabs.
With only two stages to go, it’s still not clear who will go home with a podium victory in the 80+ men’s division. Of all categories, this one appears to be the most volatile, with top finishes from four different teams in only five days. Stage five podium placers Milan Spolc and Jan Kopka took first place in today’s leg and currently sit in second place overall; Jon Gould and Ryon Butterfield landed second place in stage five but currently hold the overall lead with a five minute lead on Spolc and Kopka. Today’s third place finishers Oyvind Vaaglan Reiten and Olav N Birkeland also sit in third place in the overall standings, 17 minutes behind second place. With all top five overall teams within a half hour of one another it’s likely the title for 80+ men won’t be decided until stage seven.
After several days of podium placings being dealt between many teams, it appears that one team has taken a clear lead in the 80+ mixed category. With three straight wins in three days, Moira-Ann Handford and Andrew Handford have cushioned their overall lead by well over an hour, ahead of second place overall team Dan McCarthy and Amy Kemper. Sitting in third place overall, Christiane Bouchard and Marc Payment are a little more than two hours behind the leaders. Stage five overall standings are Handford and Handford in first, Bouchard and Payment in second, and Kirk Buckman and Cindy Carroll in third.
After an impressive four days of first place finishes, an injury has ripped potential victory from Americans Howard Jones and Jon Roberts. The team was unable to complete stage five and are no longer qualified for podium placement - aharsh reality for Jones and Roberts, but a wide open opportunity for Canadians Les Davidson and Tim Hudema, who slid from an across-the-board second place domination to fill up the top spot left empty by the injured leaders.
Also impressive was the performance of stage five winners Pierre Loubser and Ben Cronje of Russia, who went from averaging fifth place this week to win today’s race with 15 minutes to spare. They are sitting pretty in second overall, roughly an hour behind the leaders and an hour ahead of third place team Jeff Bandura and Bart Nakano. Rounding out the top five are Gary Pelletier and Dale McAllister in fourth, and Mike Meagher and Garry Froehler in fifth.
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