Reynolds, Koch win Elkhorn overall

Jun 19, 2011 by editor

BAKER CITY — The overall battle in both the men’s and women’s Elite races of the 10th Elkhorn Classic Stage Race came down to a couple slug fests Sunday on the final ascent of the infamous 102-mile Stage 4 Dooley Mountain Road Race, but at the end of the day both race leaders walked away with their jerseys intact.

Stage one winner Davis Shepherd (Gregg’s/Trek) claimed the win atop the namesake mountain in the men’s Cat 1-2 race, while Lang Reynolds (Hagens Berman) finished second and kept his overall lead. Ashley Koch (Trisports/Eclipse Racing) stamped an exclamation point on her overall win by taking the final women’s Cat-1-2 stage as well.

A flurry of attacks punctuated the early going of the Elite men’s stage before the day’s move established itself, with Gabe Varela (Yahoo! Cycling), Alan Schmitz (Hagens Berman) Alex Wentz (Team Oregon/Laurelwood), and Maikey Lopera (LifeCycle Bike Shop).

With two of the three largest teams represented, the move was able to get good traction before BobsBicycles.com — the primary squad that missed out — began setting tempo on the front of the chase. Wentz was the first to pop off of the breakaway, which built a maximum gap of five minutes before the split started coming down on the second and third climbs of the day.

Thanks to a flat tire, Schmitz was next to come out of the front group and get picked up by the peloton. By the beginning of climb three, the gap to the remaining break members was just over a minute, and Varela upped the pace.

Varela said later that he was only intending to add a little urgency to the breakaway, not go solo, but he promptly dropped his breakaway mates anyway. Thanks to a stiff tailwind leading into the Dooley Mountain finishing climb, he was able to stay put on his own for an impressive 35 miles before succumbing to the tempo set by Hagens Berman in pursuit.

On the final climb, Hagens Berman tasked Chris Wingfield with closing down the accelerations over the first mile of the climb to protect Reynolds’ race lead. His teammate Colin Gibson took over and closed down two of Shepherd’s attacks before Reynolds, tiring of the accelerations that his team was having no trouble closing down, countered-attack just as the group caught Varela, who had been off the front of the race for nearly 90 miles at that point.

Reynolds’ attack whittled the group down to himself, Shepherd and and Jonathan McCoy (Ironclad Performance Wear). When McCoy started skipping pulls Reynolds  figured the Ironcald rider was hurting and started going harder, which eventually peeled McCoy from the lead group. The two riders remaining at the front started attacking each other, Shepherd in hopes of gaining enough time to ride onto the top step of the podium.  Finding little success over repeated attacks, the stage win came down to a drag race to the line, where Shepherd had the better sprint.

Reynolds maintained his overall lead. Shepperd moved from fourth into second, and McCoy edged from sixth into third in front of time trial winner Josh Liberles (HPChiro/Alpine Mortgage Planning), who battled for ninth on the day after a touch of wheels left him in the ditch just as the attacks began at the bottom of the climb. Oregon Cup leader Jake Hansen (Word-RCB) took fifth overall. Galen Mitterman replicated his stage one late attack to claim fourth on the day, followed by Tyler Stearns (Hagens Berman).

Twenty-year-old Shepherd was ecstatic with the stage win. A recent Cat 2 upgrade, the Eugene native currently attending the University of Washington said he saw this as his first real breakthrough ride and was literally jumping up and down after the victory.

Koch takes stage and overall

The first 60 miles of the women’s race saw a couple attacks by Sue Butler (River City Bicycles) that were pulled back and two longer flyers by Athlete’s Lounge rider Lindsey Fox, the last of which stuck until the third climb.

After the chase group caught Fox halfway up the third climb, Ironclad Performance Wear rider Brianna Walle launched a counter attack on the field and was quickly out of sight. The chase group stayed together until hitting the crosswind section roughly five miles before the second feed, at which point the final group was whittled down to five racers, including Koch, Yahoo! Cycling’s Jane Despas, Ironclad hill climber Anna Christiansen, Team REP’s Allison Beall and Upper Echelon Fitness rider Megan Chinburg.

Hitting Dooley Mountain, the chase group caught Walle halfway up the eight-mile climb to the summit and split again, with the top three on GC — Koch, Despas and Christiansen — vying for the top three spots on the stage.

The GC leader, Koch, coming off eighth place at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, was able to take the top podium spot for the stage and secure her GC win. Despas grabbed second on the day and second overall, with Christiansen crossing the line for third and the final overall podium spot.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
Elkhorn Classic Stage Race
Stage 4 Dooley Mountain Road Race
June 19

Cat 1-2 Men
1. Davis Shepherd (Gregg’s/Trek) 4:35:18.00
2. Lang Reynolds (Hagens Berman) s.t.
3. Jonathan McCoy (Ironclad Performance Wear) at :42
4. Galen Mitterman (HPChiro/Alpine Mortgage Planning) at 1:39
5. Tyler Stearns (Hagens Berman)s.t.

Final GC
1. Lang Reynolds (Hagens Berman)
2. Davis Shepherd (Gregg’s/Trek)
3. Jonathan McCoy (Ironclad Performance Wear)
4. Josh Liberles (HPChiro/Alpine Mortgage Planning)
5. Jake Hansen (Word-RCB)

Cat 1-2 Women
1. Ashley Koch (Tri-Sports/Eclipse Racing) 5:07:11.00
2. Jane Despas (Yahoo! Cycling) at 1:43
3. Anna Christiansen (Ironclad Performance Wear) at 3:05
4. Brianna Walle (Ironclad Performance Wear) at 3:51
5. Allison Beall (Team REP) at 4:42

Final GC
1. Ashley Koch (Tri-Sports/Eclipse Racing)
2. Jane Despas (Yahoo! Cycling)
3. Anna Christiansen (Ironclad Performance Wear)
4. Brianna Walle (Ironclad Performance Wear)
5. Allison Beall (Team REP)

Masters 1-2-3
1. Williams, Cris (Giant Cycling/Jumex/Skullcandy) 4:36:03.00
2. Worthington, Roger (unattached) s.t.
3. Larsen, Michael (BendBroadband/WebCyclery.com) at :04
4. Root, Tim (Broken Spoke Cycling) at 1:16
5. Seguin, Brian (BendBroadband/WebCyclery.com) at 1:20

Complete OBRA results are HERE.