Cory Wallace finishes second overall at Breck Epic

After a strong start to the week saw him battling with EF’s Lachlan Morton, Cory Wallace ended the week in a duel with two Australians. Morton was joined by Tasman Nankervis, creating a three-way battle for the lead at the six-day, high-altitude stage race in Colorado.

The Jasper, Alta. racer put in some attacks, defended against some interesting race tactics, added more podiums to those he earned in the first half of the week, and would end up second overall at the 2023 Breck Epic. The win stayed with Lachlan Morton and his extremely aero, or something, race rig.

Here’s how the race unfolded from Cory Wallace’s perspective:

2023 Breck Epic race report: Part Two

Going into the second half of Breck Epic the competition was tight with myself sitting second overall in GC, sandwiched between the two Australians, Lachlan Morton in the lead by just over seven minutes, and Tasman Nankervis sitting around 15 minutes back in third.

Stage four was a fast-rolling 42-mile stage taking in some great singletrack on the Colorado trail and a fair bit of open fire roads. The legs felt great this day, going hard off the front with just the two Australians following. We had a nice lead group of three riders going into the first feed zone, where they had feeders giving them bottles, while I stopped at the neutral service to reload on supplies. This gave them a small 20-second gap, which they capitalized on, working together, with Lachlan leading the climbs, and Tasman leading the descents. I’d chase hard behind for the next hour, just off their wheels but could never close the gap behind these two strong forces. They did nothing wrong, but it would sure be nice if all the riders were required to use the great neutral service at the feed zones, instead of having personal help, as having a race split up in a feed zone isn’t the ideal way to decide a race. Otherwise, it was a great stage rolling through the Colorado backwoods, although I’d lose just over six minutes to the leading duo.

Stage five is one of the coolest days of mountain bike racing in North America with the 25-mile stage going up and over two 12,500 ft passes high above Breckenridge in the Colorado Alpine. The riding is rugged on small goat-like trails littered with big boulders, and some steep climbs in some very thin air. The scenery is beautiful, although it’s hard to take much in while trying to focus on the technical trails. Over the top the amazing Breck Epic Volunteers were handing off Bacon and Whiskey shots. Every day they are up to some antics which really contributes to the great atmosphere surrounding the race! The descent back into the valley on the Miners Creek trail is a wild ride as we try to hold onto our brakes for nearly 20 minutes on some steep wilderness trails! There’s no easy way of doing this stage so I charged off the front early to get us right into the suffering. Lachlan would come around to ride off the front as he does, while I’d hold down the fort in 2nd for the majority of the stage. Local young gun Nolan would pass me at the bottom of the big descent, using his 2.4 Maxxis Rekons, and backyard knowledge to bomb down. It was a battle the final 40 minutes on the peaks trail back to Breck but I would come back around him to narrowly grab second on the day by a few seconds, but more importantly, putting four minutes into Tasman, taking off some pressure to defend second in GC on the last stage.

Stage six is the shortest day at Breck Epic with a fast, fire road heavy 31 miles, going up and over the 11,495 ft beautiful Boreas Pass twice. It includes some fun singletrack, with the historic Gold Dust trail going down the back side of the pass being one of the highlights. Mathew Pike would surprise everyone by going off the front early while the rest of us got jammed up behind other riders on the opening single-track climb up Aspen Alley. Eventually, I would be the first to get past the slower riders and started to bridge up to catch Mathew, going deep into the redzone, which I had managed avoiding so well all week. This I paid for and somewhat blew up. When you blow up at 10,000 ft it takes some time to come around again! I’d drop back to fifth, forming a chase group with Jermiah Bishop for the day, with Lachlan and Mathew off the front, and Tasman in no man’s land in 3rd. Content to keep Tasman in sight, Jeremiah and I would go into the final descent together where I’d get a small gap to cruise in for 4th on the day, comfortably defending my 2nd overall in GC.

Stage seven was the awards and afterparty at Beaver Run Resort to celebrate an amazing week of high-altitude mountain bike racing in Colorado. Coming in 3rd last year, and 2nd this year, it looks like I’ll have to return next year to try and get up one step higher. Big shout out to Avalanche Sports Breck for looking after my Kona Hei Hie all week. It ran flawlessly and was right at home on the trail-heavy Colorado terrain. For now, it’s off to Leadville over the Colorado Trail to cheer on some friends at the Leadville 100 running race before heading back to Canada to host the Canadian Rockies 24 race in Canmore Alberta next weekend. This should give the body some rest before heading off to the Yukon for our Marathon National Championship on September 3.

Over and out from the high Rockies!

Canadians in Colorado

Cory Wallace was the fastest Canadian at the Breck Epic, but not the only one having a good week.

Sonya Looney finished fifth in the pro women’s event, behind race winner Erin Huck. Veteran racer Geoff Kabush would hold his 10th-place position in the pro men’s race from the week’s halfway point.