It’s a two horse race at the Tour Competition, with Jeff Owens and Ryan Kennedy putting themselves safely ahead of the field with two stages to go. Jorden Wakeley shifted yellow to another rider on Thursday, riding easy with a weekend race in mind. He tore away to take double points and a commanding lead in the Mountains classification before pulling to the side and letting the lead group battle it out the rest of the afternoon. With his 30 points, he’s looking golden to keep the jersey, although he’ll need to score something on the Queen stage, with double points on the board again.

Jeff Owens kept the pressure on, almost riding clear of a steady Kennedy and a scrambling Cody Sovis. It was Cam Owens that was looking to bridge with Sovis before Madeleine’s Trail, but in shades of Mont Ventoux, a one armed man riding a 1972 Honda US90 Three Wheeler barreled out of the woods and took him out. The collision was a cloud of dust, leather vests and torn Dale Earnhardt stickers, but no one was seriously hurt. Cam recovered well, jogging one mile at 4 minute pace before getting a new bike and joining the chase group. “Froome is a slow runner,” he commented as he crossed the line.

Behind, the battle for the white jersey of Best Old Rider was already in full swing. Einstein Racing-Short’s Brewing made it clear that the jersey was a team priority, and put Wes Sovis and Jon Throop at Steve “Love Is A’ Lagerquist’s disposal for the day. It working, with the pair able to respond to a few Rob Goepfrich attacks before Lagerquist sprung a move over the Boonenberg. Wes confidently bridged and set an impossible pace, pulling Steve clear and leaving Rob to plow a lonely furrow back to the finish. Lagerquist is now a minute ahead on time with two stages to go, although anything can happen on the Queen Stage.

Unfortunately, we have another Grand Tour with no women finishing, although there were strong rides from Amie Elve, Kasey Wierzba, Shannon Kochis and many of the women on hand. We can only assume women have more things going on Thursday nights.

Stage Two’s Points classification saw Ryan Kennedy put the fastest time down, which leaves him dead even on points with Jeff Owens heading into Stage Three’s “Sprinter’s Revenge”, with double points up for grabs. Jorden Wakeley and Marc Brunette could challenge, and the fastest time next week will likely be the rider who takes the green jersey home.

On GC, Kennedy and Owens are well cushioned on the rest of the field, with new third place Cody Sovis nearing three minutes down. That final podium spot, however, is anything but settled, with four riders within a minute and twenty seconds. Marc Brunette, John O’Hearn and Kyle Macdermaid will be in the hunt every week, with riders like Steven Terry and white jersey leader Steve Lagerquist always ready to move up as well.

You can see the updated Tour Competition results and standings here.

You can see all SOL weekly results here.

You can see the miniSOL results here.