Heading into the final corner before the BC Bike Race's Day 7 finish line at Whistler Olympic Plaza, Spencer Paxson was inches away from teammate and overall winner Kris Sneddon, both fighting off Denmark's Erik Skovgaard Knudsen.
"I knew coming into that last turn that I wanted to be right on the inside so I could dump down into that last turn," said Paxson, who had scouted the final curves of the course prior to Saturday's (July 6) closing stage in the resort.
"I had the positioning regardless, but we were going so fast that if you were six inches off, you were going into the gravel."
Knudsen went down on that final corner during the tussle for first place, allowing Paxson a clean finish for the stage win. Sneddon - who had a comfortable lead in the overall standings - gallantly waited for Knudsen to take second place before crossing the line himself as overall men's solo winner of this year's seven-day chase through several B.C. communities.
But for Sneddon, the victory was bittersweet after a thrilling battle with Squamish's Neal Kindree came to an end on Day 6, when Kindree withdrew from his hometown stage due to a nasty stomach bug. Sneddon led Kindree by less than two minutes after the first five days.
"It really kinda sucked that (Kindree) had to pull out," said Sneddon. "It would have been close, Neal is a very good bike rider. We train together a little bit and historically he's beat me more than I've beat him. We've had a pretty good little rivalry going."
Kindree reportedly fell ill during Day 3 in Powell River, but was able to hang with Sneddon until eventually pulling out. With a large gap going into the short Whistler course, Sneddon put the focus on getting Paxson across the line for a stage win.
"We went really hard out of the gate up that first climb and opened up a gap," said Paxson. "Kris helped motivate me a bit. It's always easier with a teammate. (Knudsen) caught us on the single track, which is really awesome because he was new to this neck of the woods. He's learned how to ride trails really fast in a week."
Eric Goodwin was the top local in the cumulative standings, with a time of 18:03:24. Goodwin placed 13th overall at the event.
Kindree was not the only racer plagued by sickness earlier in the week. Rocky Mountain Factory Team members Greg Day and Kevin Calhoun were victors in the open men team category despite Day suffering through his own bout of stomach illness.
"On Day 2 I was puking, I collapsed on the stage," said Day, a 麻豆社国产resident.
"I woke up in a tent with medics all around me with an IV in my arm. After that episode we gained momentum and by about Day 5 we were back in the lead."
Wendy Simms from Nanaimo took the overall solo women's category by more than 17 minutes and also held the coveted Enduro plate for the entire race.
"I was just trying to ride pretty steady and smooth," said Simms. "I was leading the Enduro so I really wanted to keep that going. I'm not climbing as well as the other girls. Other days I've been catching them on the downhill but it just wasn't enough today."
Simms managed second place for the final stage, just over a minute behind Kim Hurst from New Zealand. Managing an overall victory for the second year in a row, Simms enjoyed the pressure of racing against Hurst all week. Last year her closest rival was more than two hours behind.
"Kim was charging hard all week long. She was going out and attacking the hills all the time and I had to try to keep her in sight. It was really fun, she pushed me hard."
For more information and complete results from the event, visit www.bcbikerace.com
