Woodruff, Finsterwald Take the Top Step at the Inaugural Pikes Peak APEX in Colorado Springs

October 2, 2020

Strict COVID-19 safety measures were in place to pull off one of the few mountain bike races to be held in North America in all of 2020

Colorado Springs, Colorado—The Pikes Peak APEX presented by RockShox was held last week on September 24-27, 2020 in perfect, fall Colorado weather. Strict COVID-19 safety measures were in place to pull off one of the few mountain bike races to be held in North America in all of 2020. The competition did not disappoint. After four days of challenging courses on the slopes of Pikes Peak, Chloe Woodruff (Stan’s-Pivot Pro Team pb Maxxis) and Russell Finsterwald (Clif Pro Team) took the top overall honors.

On the women’s side, Woodruff’s teammate Rose Grant was able to claim the first leader’s jersey in the opening 11-mile time trial in Palmer Park. Friday’s stage took the riders on a long gravel climb up from Garden of the Gods into the Rampart Range and a single-track loop around the glowing aspen-ringed reservoir. Evelyn Dong took full advantage of some strong legs and won the stage, but not enough to push Grant out of the overall lead. Woodruff came alive on Stage 3—sticking with Grant and Dong on the Gold Camp climb and then bombing the 3,000-foot downhill on Jones Park and Captain Jack’s trails. Woodruff won the stage and took the lead heading into the last stage, a tough steep course with lots of granite scree single-track. Woodruff won the final stage to seal the victory and take home her share of the $25,000 prize purse with Dong in second overall and Grant in third.

The men’s race started out with Ryan Standish taking the Palmer Park time trial win by only two seconds over Kerry Werner and six seconds over Finsterwald. Finsterwald took control on Stage 2 around Rampart—taking the win by over a minute back to Alexey Vermeulen and U23 standout Robbie Day. Finsterwald would go on to win both Stage 3 and 4 to push his overall lead to almost ten minutes over second place Robbie Day while Ryan Standish was able to take advantage of his strong Stage 1 time trial to hold onto third overall.

The 2021 Pikes Peak APEX presented by RockShox is tentatively scheduled for September 23-26, 2021. This unique event features four days of riding in Colorado Springs, Colorado – Olympic City, USA. Courses include in-town parks and backcountry stages on the slopes of Pikes Peak. The mission of the event is to drive economic impact to the area to fund improvements to the trails and open space in the Pikes Peak region for the lasting enjoyment of its residents and visitors.  The APEX, a Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance project, is operated by Sports Strategies, part of Tourism Strategies, LLC. Please go to PikesPeakAPEX.com for more information.

For media questions or more information, please contact Micah Rice, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak APEX and VP of Event Strategy & Operations of Sports Strategies.