Well, it took four days of racing, but Nino Schurter finally avoided a sprint finish at BC Bike Race. The legendary Swiss racer attacked the steep pitches of Hammerfest’s iconic, if lesser known trails. Peter Disera has had an answer for the 10-time world champion all week. Could he answer the G.O.A.T.’s questions one more time?
On the women’s side, the multi-time BCBR champion Katerina Nash revelled in newer terrain for BCBR to take back time on current leader, Ruth Holcomb, earning a stage win but not quite the overall lead.
Schurter takes a swing at Hammerfest
Hammerfest hit racers with a series of punchy climbs before and after one main, occasionally very steep, climb to to network’s summit. After some initial efforts to reign in Schurter’s pace, the Swiss racer had free track in front of him and went on the move. Peter Disera limited the legendary cross country racer’s gains to 20 or so seconds oat the top but, unlike other days, couldn’t reign Schurter in on the descents.
“I did what I could but I didn’t get lucky like I did yesterday in terms of closing the gap on the descents. Every little punchy rise after that main downhill, he was standing and hitting it so hard,” Disera said after the race. “I held that 30 second gap for like 40 minutes. Eventually he squeezed out a little more.”
After Day 4 racing, Schurter earns a 48.7-second lead over Disera, the week’s first real separation in the men’s field this week at BC Bike Race.
“We knew this was going to happen eventually. Now it has, so I can relax, which is nice,” Disera said. Even after a rough day at the office, the Canadian was stoked on a day spent touring Parkfest’s finest singletrack. “Hammerfest is sick. I mentioned it to Dre [Hestler] last year that this place is super underrated. Feedback so far is that this place is super sweet.”
Ethan Pauly
Not far back from the battle for yellow, local Vancouver Island road and gravel racer Ethan Paully’s been mixing it up with the leader’s on the climbs all week. While everyone’s been hard pressed to hold Nino’s wheel on the descents, Pauly’s holding an impressive eighth overall after attacking Hammerfest’s steep climbs to finish seventh on the day.
“It’s been fun using my road fitness on the climbs. The…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…