It is potentially the final competition still up for grabs, and if there’s night to take points in the King of the Mountains Competition, this is it.
The Boonenberg is worth double points tonight, and Alex Vanias will attack it looking to retain his current clean sweep of the Giro competitions. Eligible for the GC, KOM and Sprint awards, he holds comfortable leads in all but the KOM. Tonight is the last real chance for anyone to pick up the points necessary to challenge.
Ty Schmidt has proven himself game and sits second now after a points revision last Saturday. He’s 6 back from Vanias and will need to win the climb tonight and look for strong riders like Sean Kickbush, Ryan Kennedy or Luke Tjosvold to eat up points in second. Vanias is looking to ride a more conservative race this evening, with his eyes on Snake Alley Saturday, so we could all be treated to a head-to-head-to-head bunch gallop up the 8% slope.
The sprint competition is all but set, though with WorldTour points on the line, every placing is valuable as the race hits the final two stages. Vanias is nearly doubling-up second place rider Cody Sovis, with Vanias scoring a perfect 30 points thus far.
Kaitlyn Patterson has been demonstrative in her efforts this Giro and has a solid gap in the women’s race. Her 2:26 buffer over Lauri Brockmiller should be enough to survive the off-day, though there’s not a hint of such a thing happening to the on-form rider of the spring.
Early rumors out of the Einstein Racing camp say second placed singlespeeder Jason Whittaker is under the weather but should still start Stage Three. He’s been embroiled in one of the most exciting battles of this young Giro, with leader Kyle Macdermaid sitting just 19 second ahead. The duo have been within arm’s reach for their aggregate hour and twenty-four minutes of racing and there’s little to think the gap will change much before the finale in two weeks.
The Team Competition took a swing back to relative normality last week, with Cody Sovis and Luke Tjosvold combining to put Einstein Racing back into the lead over City Bike Shop, who have enjoyed break-out rides form Tom White and Josh Zelinski. CBS is just 14 seconds back now, with Einstein still breathlessly awaiting the return of Ryan “Mr. President” Kennedy to SOL.
Cooler weather and a few days of rain have the SOL course is great condition, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a few course records fall again tonight.
6:30pm from Ec or 6:45 from Bunker Hill.