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Kindree takes BC Bike Race by 15 seconds

Simms owns women’s race by more than two hours

After seven days of riding, Neal Kindree and Wendy Simms have taken the titles of BC Bike Race Champions.

The pair were the fastest competitors in the men’s and women’s Open Epic category.

Kindree won the overall title with only 15 seconds to spare over the course of the seven days. The Squamish resident placed third in the final stage at Whistler, more than three minutes behind stage winner Chris Sheppard. The American rider finished well ahead of second place Whistler stage finisher Cory Wallace in the final race of the series.

Barry Wicks placed third overall behind Kindree and Sheppard over the seven stages.

Kindree suffered a flat tire on the Whistler course and he said it took him about three minutes to get the tire inflated. After the race he said he felt comfortable saying that the flat tire cost him the stage victory.

“Chris Sheppard was driving it really hard up the climbs,” Kindree said at Whistler Olympic Plaza after claiming his bronze medal for the third place stage finish. “I know he was trying to drop me but that was not going to happen.”

The day before in Squamish there was a sprint finish and Kindree said he would have sprinted with Sheppard to the finish in Whistler if they were together at the line.

Kindree, Sheppard and Wicks battled all week for leads. Wicks gave too much in the early days of the race, in Kindree’s opinion.

“I haven’t talked to him but I think he may have pushed a little too hard early on and popped later in the week,” said Kindree.

Simms finished the seventh stage in Whistler with a win to take a clean sweep of each stage. Melinda Jackson of Australia finished eighth in the stage but second overall behind Simms.

Hannah Thorne of New Zealand placed second in the stage and third overall while Alex Robinette was the third female across the Whistler finish line.

Results are available at www.bcbikerace.com. Check back for more BC Bike results.