Whiteswan Lake–ElkFord
93km/1500m climbing
After three days in the remote Rocky Mountain backcountry, the riders of the 2007 TransRockies Challenge were very pleased to return to civilization as they rolled into Elkford, British Columbia to finish Stage 5 in what has been an exceptionally hot, dusty and wearing edition of this epic race.
Again, the hot high sun beat down without mercy on the 560 riders who rolled out of Whiteswan Lake knew that Stage 5 would be another long one in the saddle with two major passes including the monster 2100 metre Crossing Creek Pass and legendary gnarlfest 3km-long rock field which has claimed several riders in the history of the TransRockies Challenge.
After being beaten at the line yesterday by Team La Ruta, Roddi Lega and Tim Heemskerk of Team United Cycles were extra-determined to take first place today on the 90km leg from Whiteswan Lake to Elkford, BC. Three teams formed an early group, La Ruta, United Cycles and the composite Rocky Mountain Haywood/Opus team of Andreas Hestler and Brian Cooke, both of whom had lost a partner on the previous day. Though they were not eligible for the prizes, Hestler and Cooke heated up the competition with a furious pace through the middle of the race.
Having survived the wicked tempo, Team United Cycles were able to establish a small gap on a singletrack section and held the lead to the top of the last 14km descent when the fast-charging Costa Ricans almost managed to catch them. Lega and Heemskerk used some local knowledge on the beyond-technical rocky opening section of the descent and kept the hammer down to roll across the line in a finishing time of 4:02:18, 4 ½ minutes faster than Team La Ruta. The Costa Ricans pushed themselves to the limit on the unfamiliar technical sections trying to live up their promise to win the stage as a birthday present for their team manager Luis Rueda Fonseca.
Hestler and Cooke crossed the line third on the day in 4:13, though Hestler’s teammates Matt Green and Matt Hadley will get credit for third place with a time of 4:16:06. First and second place in the overall are unchanged though Team Rocky Mountain EA Sports moves back into third with the retirement of Team Opus.
While the leaders in some categories have started to build leads which seem insurmountable, others are tightening as the race progresses. For example, in the Open 100+ Combined ages category, the French-Canadian duo of Francois Amyot and Daniel Auclair (Team Zootallures) has seen their 25 minutes lead drop to 11 seconds with two stages to go as the Sygenta Prairie Boys, Don Sissons and Bill Benson have surged to three stages in a row.
