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Women’s race leader Katerina Nash pedals during the grueling traverse of the Tenmile Range as part of Thursday’s fifth stage of the 6-day Breck Epic mountain bike race.
Courtesy Liam Doran, Breck Epic
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Men’s race leader Keegan Swenson and Luis Mejia climb during the grueling ascent of the Tenmile Range to Wheeler Pass as part of Thursday’s fifth stage of the 6-day Breck Epic mountain bike race.
Courtesy Devon Balet, Breck Epic
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Mountain bikers hike with their bikes during the grueling traverse of the Tenmile Range A mountain biker takes a rest during the grueling ascent up the Tenmile Range as part of Thursday’s fifth stage of the 6-day Breck Epic mountain bike race.
Courtesy Devon Balet, Breck Epic
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Women’s race leader Katerina Nash pedals during the grueling traverse of the Tenmile Range as part of Thursday’s fifth stage of the 6-day Breck Epic mountain bike race.
Courtesy Devon Balet, Breck Epic
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A mountain biker takes a rest during the grueling ascent up the Tenmile Range to Wheeler Pass as part of Thursday’s fifth stage of the 6-day Breck Epic mountain bike race.
Courtesy Devon Balet, Breck Epic
BRECKENRIDGE — It was a glorious grind of a morning for Breck Epic mountain bike racers above the Tenmile Range’s tree line on Thursday, as riders tackled the daunting Wheeler stage under sunny bluebird skies.
After 24 miles and 5,227 feet of total climbing, professional cyclist Keegan Swenson of Park City won his fifth consecutive stage as part of the 6-day race, ahead of the stage’s runner-up, Luis Mejia.
Video by Antonio Olivero / aolivero@summitdaily.com
Swenson is just one day away from taking home the $30,000 prize purse as part of the Epic’s Union Cycliste Internationale elite men’s racing division. Mejia entered Day 5 in sixth place overall, 20 minutes back of Swenson but fewer than two minutes back of the top-3 positions. Swenson’s overall time of 12:18:23.65 entering Day 5 was more than 11 minutes ahead of runner-up Russell Finsterwald.
In the UCI elite pro women’s division, like Swenson, Katerina Nash of the Czech Republic won her fifth stage in five days. Nash entered Day 5 more than seven minutes ahead of her CLIF pro team teammate Hannah Finchamp. At the conclusion of stage 5, Nash and Finchamp again finished 1-2, joined in the top-3 by Laetiita Roux, who entered the day in eighth place, more than an hour behind the top-3 positions.
Full stage-5 results to come!
BRECK EPIC 2019: Rear-view mirror
BRECK EPIC 2019: What’s to come
Friday, Aug. 16
Stage 6: Gold Dust
29.3 miles, 3,740-foot elevation gain