It didn't turn out to be treacherous trails or mechanical issues that took the B.C. Bike Race (BCBR) title away from Squamish's Neal Kindree it ended up being a nasty stomach bug.
Kindree dropped out of Day 6 of the BCBR in 麻豆社国产on Friday (July 7), clearing the way for Kris Sneddon from Sechelt to win on the final day of competition in Whistler the next day (see related story this page).
"DNF today stage 6 麻豆社国产of the BCBR," Kindree tweeted, following his withdrawal. "Too weak and fatigued to go on. Stomach bug and not holding food since Powell River takes its toll."
Heading into Day 6, Kindree trailed Sneddon by one minute and 49 seconds in the cumulative standings, but his hopes of repeating were dashed with the DNF.
Day 6 turned out to be a breakout race for Canmore's Matt Hadley, who won the stage with a time of 2:22:49. Hadley beat out second place finisher Erik Skovgaard Knudsen from Denmark by 44 seconds for the win. Spencer Paxson from the USA placed third, with Sneddon finishing fourth.
Hadley said he was solid on the climbs and gained ground in the downhill portions to grab the win.
"Before Pseudo Tsuga I made my move," he said. "I gapped off a bit on Half Nelson and on the climb I attacked. I made up some time on the downhill of Powerhouse Plunge too."
After five days, Hadley was sitting in fifth place and said he'd been saving energy for Squamish.
"I've faded in the end the last two days so maybe I had some extra juice today," he said. "One of my goals was to get a stage win and it's awesome to win in one of my favourite places to ride."
Sneddon praised Hadley's ride and said he rode an extremely strong race.
"It became a case of let's see if we can reel him in," he said of Hadley's lead for much of the race. "But he rode really well today."
He said he noticed Kindree bow out around the Powerhouse Plunge section.
"On the climb to Powerhouse Plunge he crossed the river and just came off his bike around there," he said.
Sneddon has close to an 18-minute cumulative lead on second place rider Paxson, but said he's not sleeping easy tonight.
"I'm going to try to keep it together out there," he said. "No mechanicals but anything can happen it's bike racing."
The top local male time was Eric Goodwin, who completed the course 2:41:02 and finished 14th overall.
Wendy Simms of Nanaimo continued her dominance in the women's division, winning Day 6 with a time of 3:00:44. Kim Hurst and Trish Grajczyk finished second and third respectively.
Squamish's Greg Day continued a strong run in the open men team division, winning Day 6 with a time of 2:33:37. Day and his partner Kevin Calhoun beat out second place by close to 13 minutes and have a comfortable cumulative lead heading into the final day.
A special guest riders race also occurred, with Squamish's Quinn Moberg winning the race. Moberg posted a time of 2:25:09 for the win.
For complete results from Day 6, visit www.bcbikerace.com/news-and-media/results.
