Squamish鈥檚 Quinn Moberg used a little home trail advantage to win big on Day 6 of the 小蓝视频 Bike Race on Friday (July 3).
Moberg posted the top time of 2:45:18, beating out Texas rider Tristan Uhl by three seconds to capture the Squamish stage of the annual event.
He said his strategy worked perfectly.
鈥淚 know this course pretty so I wanted to get gaps on the downhill and let people catch me on the uphill,鈥� he said of the 55-kilometre course. 鈥淭ristan and I got away from the pack at Rob鈥檚 Corners and that was a beautiful move for me because Tristan is working for the jersey and I鈥檓 was working for the stage.鈥�
Moberg said he couldn鈥檛 do it without support from his inner circle.
鈥淚 just want to stress how much of a team effort this is,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y family, friends and team are all watching and I couldn鈥檛 get this done without my sponsors.鈥�
Moberg sits in fourth place overall in the seven-day cumulative standings and is just over 16 minutes behind the leader Uhl. Moberg has placed in the top five in each stage, except for day three when he placed sixth.
Uhl said he wanted to keep pace with Moberg to ensure his lead in the event.
鈥淚 talked to Quinn before and knew he lived here,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd from his performance at last year鈥檚 Squamish stage I knew he was going to be the guy to follow. We went pretty hard early on, got a gap and then hammered the rest of the way.鈥�
Uhl has a seven minute lead over Bellingham鈥檚 Spencer Paxson and added that he feels comfortable but won鈥檛 be content until it鈥檚 all over.
鈥淚鈥檒l do my best to hang on to the jersey but it鈥檚 not all over until that last race is done,鈥� he said.
Bellingham鈥檚 Spencer Paxson placed third (2:51:52), Sechelt鈥檚 Kris Sneddon was fourth (2:53:40) and Chris Benson from West Hawk Lake placed fifth (2:54:03).
Squamish鈥檚 Greg Day, competing in the team of two open men division with North Vancouver鈥檚 Kevin Calhoun, finished ninth with a time of 2:56:40. The pair have the cumulative lead by over 13 minutes heading into the final stage in Whistler on Saturday (July 4).
Squamish鈥檚 Dwayne Kress continued his strong run at the event, with a 15th place finish on his home trails. Kress completed the course in 3:00:59 and he is in first place in the solo masters men division, with a one-hour lead over second place. Squamish鈥檚 Chris Christie also had a solid day in his hometown, placing 34th overall with a time of 3:16:18. He sits in fourth place in the cumulative standings for the solo masters men division.
For the women, Katerina Nash continued her dominance by winning in Squamish. The American posted a time of 3:17:05 to beat out Vicki Barclay from the USA by over four minutes. Nash has a lead of 40 minutes in the cumulative standings heading into the final day.
Squamish鈥檚 Brandi Heisterman and teammate Leah Trudeau cruised to another win in the team of two female division with a time of 3:35:43. The pair are well on their way to a victory in the division and hold a lead of over 10 hours on second place.
The top local female at the Squamish stage was Jenn Thiel, who placed 15th overall amongst all women and clocked in with a time of 4:22:27. Thiel is 16th overall in the cumulative standings.
The 小蓝视频 Bike Race finishes up in Whistler on Saturday. Read The 小蓝视频 for results from that race.聽
