Pro Men Podium and Stage Summaries
The top five Pro Men shared a $7,000 prize purse. The day’s top five winners were: 1st – Cole Picchiottino / 2nd – Curtis Keene / 3rd – Evan Geankoplis / 4th – Brian Lopes (absent from podium photo) / 5th – Trevor McCutcheon.
Pro riders kicked off Day 1 in the mid-afternoon with a lift to the top of Stage 1, Party Wave / Westridge. Cole Picchiottino took his first of four stage wins right from the start, coming in at 4:08.0 on this smooth and flowy jump run. Evan Geankoplis — sidelined at Round 3 China Peak in the first stage — was back with a vengeance, taking second on the stage at 4:11.0. Last year’s Crafts and Cranks Enduro champ Brian Lopes took third at 4:11.5. Noah Kepple took fourth at 4:12.1 just one second ahead of Curtis Keene.
The Pro Men then tackled the 1,380-foot climb to Stage 2, Miracle Mile. Picchiottino again led the pack on this classic bike park run, clocking 3:29.9, nearly five seconds ahead of the next fastest rider on the stage, Keene. Lopes came in third, just a fraction of a second behind Keene, at 3:35.6. Cameron Joye and Kepple ran the stage in nearly the exact same time, with Joye at 3:36.183 and Kepple at 3:36.189.
Day 1 of the Crafts and Cranks Enduro wrapped with Stage 2, and at this point Picchiottino was in the lead with over a nine-second lead and total time of 7:37.8. Lopes was in second with a total time of 7:47.1, followed by Keene at 7:47.8, Kepple at 7:48.2, and Geankoplis at 7:48.7. With less than 1.6 seconds separating second through fifth, there was still a lot of opportunity for shaking things up the next day.
Day 2 kicked off with an early morning 1,380-foot climb to Stage 3, Turtle. Picchiottino retained his solid lead, completing this high speed, blue square run at 5:49.1, two and a half seconds faster than Geankoplis. Spencer Rathkamp and Keene took the stage at nearly identical times — 5:55.361 and 5:55.362 respectively. Todd Renwick rounded out the stage’s top five fastest pro men at 5:58.728.
After this stage, Picchiottino extended his lead to just over 13 seconds with a total time of 13:26.9. The tight 1.6-second gap for the next four racers also opened up. Geankoplis jumped into second at 13:40.3, followed by Keene at 13:41.2, Lopes at 13:46.2, and Kepple at 13:49.5.
Riders got a lift to the top before heading out of the bike park for pedally and loamy but loose Stage 4, Lower Plumbers. Picchiottino bobbled on this stage with a quick soil sample but was still able to hold it together for another stage win. This time he got the squeeze by Keene, however; their times were 3:12.202 and 3:12.231 respectively. Geankoplis took third at 3:14.0, Rathkamp fourth at 3:15.8 and Trevor McCutcheon fifth at 3:17.3.
Coming into the final stage, Picchiottino had extended his lead to 15.2 seconds over the rest of the pack with a total time of 16:39.1. Geankoplis held onto second with 16:54.3, followed by Keene at 16:55.4, Lopes at 17:05.1, and Kepple at 17:09.4.
A 700-foot climb brought the Pro Men to the top of the power-specific, technical Stage 5 on Upper / Lower Fall Line. Picchiottino had a couple of bobbles which allowed Keene to bring Picchiottino’s stage winning streak to an end. Keene took the stage at 8:17.4, nearly four seconds ahead of Picchiottino (8:21.1). Geankoplis was just half a second behind Picchiottino at 8:21.6. Lopes and Renwick were neck and neck, coming in fourth and fifth at 8:30.2 and 8:30.3 respectively.
After a tight, exciting couple days of racing, it was Picchiottino on the top step of the Pro Men podium, well ahead of the pack with a total time of 25:00.2. Keene took second nearly 13 seconds behind Picchiottino at 25:13.0, with Geankoplis coming in third with a total time of 25:15.9. Lopes took fourth at 25:35.3 and McCutcheon fifth at 25:45.3.
Pro Women Podium and Stage Summaries
The top five Pro Women also shared a $7,000 prize purse. The day’s top five winners were: 1st – Anneke Beerten / 2nd – Essence Barton / 3rd – Heidi Kanayan / 4th – Janea Perry (absent from podium photo) / 5th – Madeline Bemis (absent from podium photo).
After a Day 1 mid-afternoon lift to the top of Stage 1, Party Wave / Westridge, the Pro Women were stoked to race. Anneke Beerten kicked off her race with a stage win — clocking 4:39.9 — and went on to sweep every stage of the day, just like reigning champ Essence Barton did last year. This year, Barton took second on the first stage of the weekend, and she subsequently took second on every stage thereafter. Still, Barton’s Stage 1 time of 4:43.8 was nearly seven seconds faster than the third fastest, Heidi Kanayan (4:50.5). Madeline Bemis came in fourth at 4:55.5 and Janea Perry fifth at 4:58.6
From the bottom of Stage 2, the Pro Women climbed 1,380 feet to the top of Stage 2, Miracle Mile. Beerten clocked an exact four minutes on this final stage of the day. Barton was a little over five seconds behind her at 4:05.8, nearly ten seconds ahead of Kanayan who came in at 04:14.2. Kanayan herself had an impressive 15.5 second lead on Bemis who came in fourth (4:29.7), while Perry finished the stage just a hair slower than Bemis at 4:30.1.
At Day 1’s end, Beerten was leading the Pro Women by almost 10 seconds with a total time of 8:39.9. Barton followed at 8:49.6, Kanayan at 9:04.8, Bemis at 9:25.2, and Perry at 9:28.8.
Day 2 kicked off at 7am with a 1,380-foot climb to the top of Stage 3, Turtle. Beerten held on to her spot at the top taking her third stage win on this long track with a time of 6:28.4. As with the previous two stages, Barton took second clocking 6:30.5 and Kanayan third at 6:34.1. Perry came in fourth at 6:40.0 and Sophia Dentzel fifth at 6:49.2
After this stage, Beerten increased her lead to over 12 sec with a total time of 15:08.3. Barton held on to second with 15:20.2, followed by Kanayan at 15:38.9. Perry moved into fourth with a total time of 16:08.7, followed by Bemis with 16:17.2.
The Pro Women then took a lift to Stage 4, Lower Plumbers. Beerten owned the fast, pedally run clocking 3:38.0, over seven seconds faster than Barton (3:45.1). Bemis’ slightly faster time upset the top three stage finish order, battling Kanyan for third place and taking it by just a fraction of a second to spare (3:48.345 and 3:48.437 respectively). Perry came in fifth at 3:53.3.
Coming into the final stage, the women held their positions. Beerten added to her lead, opening it up to 19.1 seconds, followed by Barton at 19:05.3, Kanayan at 19:27.3, Perry at 20:02.0, and Bemis at 20:05.5.
It was a 700-foot climb to the top of the final stage, Upper / Lower Fall Line. Beerten flew into Stage 5 finish with a solid lead of over 11 seconds on Barton, the next fastest (09:37.6 and 09:48.8 respectively). Perry took a third place stage finish at 10:12.6 with Kanayan just over a second behind her at 10:13.9. Lili Heim rounded off the top five fastest women down this long, technical track clocking 10:18.8.
After two days of determined racing, Beerten took the top step of the Pro Women podium with a total time of 28:23.8. Barton finished in second place at 28:54.1, Kanayan in third at 29:41.2, Perry in fourth at 30.14.6 and Bemis in fifth at 30:37.8.
