Ty Schmidt’s double Grand Tour ambitions got a massive boost Thursday night, with a great ride to take the red jersey and put time into his GC rivals. 

With some big names back on the start block, the second stage of the Vuelta had a number of different battles being fought. The GC riders were tucked amongst the skirmishers, with Ty Schmidt looking to steal five seconds back from Nate St. Onge. Reigning SOL World Champion Ryan Kennedy returned to the start line, as well as Sean Kickbush and Keegan Myers. That trio was quickly the benchmark for the night, but contributed to a new race leader and some new classification leaders as well. 

Myers, Kickbush, Kennedy and Luke Tjosvold were the wrecking balls early, tearing away from the pack in the opening miles of the second stage. Nate St. Onge was shadow boxing, with his legs still tired from a 7th place finish in the full 100 mile version of the X100 on Saturday. He lost contact and watched as Ty Schmidt was tagged onto the back of the lead group heading over Wood Chip Hill. Indeed, Schmidt was putting time into the whole podium, with St. Onge’s teammate Cody Sovis even further back initially, and third placed rider Hal Bevier in no man’s land before the Power Section brought him into contact with a chase group. Sovis put his sprint ambitions on hold to make sure St. Onge was in touch alongside City Bike’s Tom White and Josh Zelinski, who contributed beautifully to stave off chasers from the back, aside from Ryan Bolin. Ahead, Myers refused to contribute to the pace-making, aiming on stage honors and points. 

Schmidt was distanced as the night went over the halfway mark, while St. Onge found a second wind and was able to ride aggressively alongside Zelinski and Tom White, as Sovis was dropped alongside Ryan Bolin over the Saarlock Pit. 

The Power Section yielded good results for Myers, who takes double on the day and now leads the Sprint competition over Cody Sovis, who nabbed just 8 points and surrenders the jersey. Ryan Kennedy and Sean Kickbush are also in the mix with two stages left. 

The really intriguing battle will be for the Mountains classification, which was worth double points on Stage One and will again be double on Stage Three. Ty Schmidt retains the lead by two points over Cody Sovis, but Ryan Kennedy, Sean Kickbush and Keegan Myers had amazing times over the climb on Stage Two and are big threats to make big hauls in the weeks ahead. Schmidt, will need to focus his effort on that jersey, and perhaps save a little over the Power Section with his GC lead now looking more solid. 

Schmidt holds 1:22 over Nate St. Onge, not insurmountable but certainly looking secure with half the race left to go. It’s may be a battle for third now, with Cody Sovis taking back 20 seconds from Hal BeVier on Stage Two, and sits ten seconds back on the overall. Jake Ellis made some in-roads with a great ride on Stage Two, now safely in fifth with nearly two minutes ahead of Andrew Dyke. 

It’s a one man mission on the Best Old Rider front, with Hal BeVier the only rider in the mix. He needs only to finish to take his first win in the Competition. 

The Team Competition is opening up, with Einstein Racing taking big rides from Nate St. Onge last week and Ryan Kennedy this week as anchors to form up a seven minute lead with two stages left. 

As mentioned, Stage Three is another double points night for the KOM classification, and that will likely be the main event between the heavy-weights. A reminder that SOL will change times for the month of September, with the ride leaving Ec at 6.15pm, rather than 6.30, and 6.30 from the Vasa 25km lot rather than 6.45. 

GC

Sprint

KOM

Team