Van Der Linden takes full race lead; Munro again crushes all fields
The 23-year-old World Cup racer beat all on course with the exception of 10 pro men in Stage 2
Words: Shauna Farnell
Images: Eddie Clark & John Hanson
After crossing the finish line to secure the Stage 2 victory for the Breck Epic Women’s Elite field, Leah Van Der Linden (Lauf/Continental/Hunt/Eliel/Tifosi) sat against a tree for several minutes, catching her breath and reflecting on what she ranks as one of the major accomplishments of her racing career.
“I really wanted Stage 2. I wanted today,” she said. “These are my home-away-from-home trails. I rode my ride, cleaned everything and really focused on the downhill to make up a lot of time.”
Although this is her first Breck Epic the 31-year-old Boulder athlete, who finished second in the Sea Otter Classic this spring, has a home in Dillon and has spent a lot of time riding the Stage 2 trails – The Colorado Trail, Heinous Hill, Galena Ditch, etc.
Starting the day after finishing second to Lauren Stephens in the opening stage Sunday as well as a 22nd place in the Leadville 100 Saturday, Van Der Linden had to make up about a minute gap on Stephens. She caught her around mile 10.
“Unfortunately, she hooked her bars on some trees,” Van Der Linden said. “I knew I needed a little bit of effort coming into the Colorado Trail and climbing at my pace. I sent it down the CT and kept looking back. I just told myself that today is my day.”
Van der Linden, who underwent back surgery (L4, L5 discectomy) last year, takes the race lead with her Stage 2 victory, winning the 42.5-mile stage with 6,565 feet of climbing in 4 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
“I’ve worked really hard the last three years, coming back from back surgery last year. I know I can ride. I’m really proud of this win,” she said.
Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation), who finished third in Saturday’s Leadville 100 but was disqualified for a misunderstanding about a bottle handoff, was feeling the burn coming into Stage 2. In spite of her handlebar check and subsequent crash, she still managed to finish a couple minutes after Van Der Linden and now trails in the GC by 1:12.
“The number one goal was to finish this thing. The number two goal was to not crash. I’ve already crashed twice. The number three goal was to win, so I guess I need to work on some things,” Stephens said. “I definitely felt more tired today than I did yesterday. Those first two climbs really did me in. Leah caught me at the bottom of the descent after the first two climbs and I clipped a tree soon after that. The rest of the day I spent trying to chase her down. It’s cool that it’s going to be a close race and yeah, we’ve still got four days ahead of us.”
Once again racing at a pace all her own, 23-year-old Maddie Munro (Trek Factory Racing XC) crossed the line more than 20 minutes ahead of the other pro women, in 3:39:19. However, the Boulder athlete is competing in just the first three stages.
“A couple people have been like, you should race all six, but six days of really hard racing might be a bit too much,” Munro said. “My teammate Riley [Amos] did this race last year and totally cracked on like day five. Us cross country kids are good for about three days and that’s all we need.”
As in Stage 1, Munro pedaled among the fastest men. Her Stage 2 time put her in the middle of the men’s elite pack.
In her fifth year on the World Cup, Munro leaves for a race in France later this month. Although racing at the globe’s top tier is different, Munro relishes the chance to compete on trails she has ridden since she was a kid.
“There’s definitely more manicured features in most World Cups – more drops and jumps – but they’re all relatively easy to ride because they’re so well-built,” she said. “Here, I’d say it’s more technical in the sense that you might not know the trail super well. They’re chunky. They can be loose. They’re not super gnarly-technical, but when you ride them at speed they can be challenging. It’s really fun, natural riding out here.”
Breck Epic ’25 continues Tuesday with Stage 3, the Circumnavigation of Mt. Guyot, a 40.5-mile ride that climbs more than 7,000 feet.
Lauren Stephens, Breck Epic 2025 Stage 2 – The Colorado Trail
Image: John Hanson
Pike dares to dream in yellow jersey as Bottcher and Wallace round out podium in Stage 2
Top two aside, the Colorado Trail evened the playing field for some of the men’s frontrunners on Monday
By Shauna Farnell
Matt Pike is having himself a race. The 28-year-old from Longmont won his second straight stage Monday on the Breck Epic’s Colorado Trail course, edging second day runner-up Caleb Bottcher (Yeti/Shimano/ENVE/Goodyear) by 31 seconds.
Pike put down the fastest time of the day – 3 hours, 20 minutes and 52 seconds – on the 42.5-mile Colorado Trail course, which involved more than 6,000 feet of climbing.
“I let Stefano [Barberi] instigate again on the first climb. I figured I could play that game, too,” Pike said. “I pushed on. Past Heinous Hill, I was by myself for a while, until a little under three miles to go. I got myself lost and just flipped into panic mode.”
Pike accidentally doubled back on a trail used earlier in the race instead of staying on the dirt road (Gold Run), leading to the finish.
“It wasn’t great to see him coming out of the trail as I’m flipping it,” Pike said of Bottcher. “But it was panic mode and the gap seemed to open back up.”
Pike is returning to racing after several weeks off, having broken his collarbone in the Unbound Gravel XL earlier this year. Competing in his fourth Epic, he has won Stage 6 twice and podiumed in other stages, but until now, has never worn the yellow jersey.
“You can hope, you can dream, but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” he said. “It doesn’t take much at all for two minutes to disappear. That’s less than a flat; God forbid, a crash. It was a beautiful day. Getting up on the CT is some of the highlights of this race. These middle stages are just stunning. We’ll see how the week continues.”
Coming into his first Breck Epic fresh off the Leadville 100, Bottcher now trails Pike by 2 minutes 41 seconds in the GC. The 24-year-old New Zealander kicked off Stage 2 with three stitches in his knees after a crash in Stage 1.
“It felt a bit tight to start with,” he said. “By that Heinous Hill, the pain in the legs and suffering in the race overtook the pain in my knees, so I stopped thinking about it at that point. It would have been nice to follow Matt from the start, but to pull him back that much by the end and bring it that close feels pretty good.”
Bottcher was going head-to-head with Corey Wallace (Kona Bikes) for much of the race, but pulled ahead on the climbs, edging Wallace by more than four minutes.
The Canadian from Jasper, Alberta, rounded out the Stage 2 podium and now sits in third in the GC, trailing Pike by almost 11 minutes and Bottcher by almost eight minutes.
“I was chasing in second for a while behind Matt. Caleb pulled ahead on the Colorado Trail at the top of the climb. I think he saw Matt and just went for it,” said Wallace, who, competing in his sixth Breck Epic, has never ranked so high after the first two stages.
“I was in third today and just wanted to keep it steady,” he said. “I’m happy where I’m sitting today. Tomorrow I’m going to go for it. I’m pretty excited. There’s lots of trail to go, so I’ll just stay focused.”
Several pro men are within striking distance of the GC podium coming into Tuesday’s Stage 3, The Circumnavigation of Mt. Guyot. Pike leads with a total time of 6:07:34, followed by Bottcher with 6:10:15 and Wallace with 6:18:13. Cassius Anderson sits in fourth with a close 6:18:30, Macky Franklin is fifth with 6:21:31, Barberi is sixth with 6:24:54 and Lance Haidet is seventh with 6:25:19.
Matt Pike
Image: Eddie Clark
One of the many beautiful faces of the Colorado Trail
Image: Eddie Clark
