Defending champion Chris Sheppard wins first stage in convincing fashion

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Amid expectations of wet trails in the upper sections of today’s first stage of the BC Bike Race from just melted snow pack, racers were greeted to tepid temperatures and dry, dusty conditions throughout the 32-mile stage.

The day began in Cumberland’s Village Park (where it also ended) with a 22-plus mph roll out to the first singletrack, designed to thin the field but despite the fast pace there was still a clog in the drain as riders funneled down behind the heads of state. The initial lead group consisted of Rocky Mountain’s Chris Sheppard, Frenchman Thomas Dietsch of the Bulls team, Jamis’ Jason Sager, Kona’s duo team of Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks and the Nativo/Devinci team consisting of Marty Lazarski and Ricky Fedderau.

In the days leading up to today’s start Dietsch expressed concern over the technical singletrack of the event, saying there is nothing like this in Europe, "In Europe we have maybe seven-percent singletrack in a race, not 70, referring to the long held slogan of 70-percent singletrack per stage by BCBR. Nonetheless, it was Deitch at the front setting the pace over the race’s major fireroad climb that topped out at just over 2,000 feet.

"Dietsch was definitely dictating the pace on the climb," said Sager. "The rest of us would pull through out of courtesy. I think if it wasn’t windy or if it was steeper he would have attacked."

As they crested the climb the Nativo/Devinchi team lost contact leaving just the Kona team in the duo category and Sheppard, Sager and Dietsch to settle the podium places for the solo men as they headed into the final sections,

Unfortunately on the tight, rooty singletrack downhill after the crest of the climb, as Sager chased Sheppard, he took a wrong turn and lost approximately six minutes. "It was downhill so when I turned around I had to hike back up." Once Sager rejoined the fray Dietsch was by as was a collection of other front-runners. "It was so spread out I didn’t see anyone for about an hour," said a dejected Sager who finished just ahead of Italian pro Marzio Deho who also temporarily went off course.

When Sheppard entered the final singletrack alone with about a minute on the Frenchman he was able to gain about 30 more seconds by the end to take the overall win for today with a squirrelly yet effective Deitsch second and the duo of Wicks and Sneddon third overall across the line and easy duo winners.

"My hardtail is not a good bike for here," mused Dietsch at the finish referring to the abuse he took on the technical sections. "I tried to get a gap on the uphill and one time I thought it worked but Chris came back."

But Dietsch was quick to add, "It’s not about racing, I was really happy to have fun and not be afraid of the course. Today was really fun. I broke my shoulder really bad last winter so I’ve happy to just be riding here."

In women’s team action, the Austrailian team of Shparkle Horsh and the Hyper Monkey took a commanding lead while the highly hyped Brazilian team Flower People Rocky mountain clad in solid pink and aboard pink Rocky Mountain Element RSL’s ended up in third, 12 minutes off the leaders.

In the team category the Cannondale pairing of Mark Weir and Jason Moeschler upheld all-mountain honor with a fine fifth place finish, just a mere 1:30 minutes off the podium.

"It was a really balanced course, said Weir. "The downhills were awesome, the climbs were good. Overall, one of the better cross-country courses I’ve ridden in years."

Former USPRO road champion and current Chipotle Development Team Director Sportif Chann McRae is here on vacation with his wife Jen and their kids. The pair also happened to win the mixed class in the shorter Challenge category today.

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