At the Tour of Kansas City, shortened this year to two days of racing instead of three, hot temperatures, and an even hotter pace made things hard for Big D and the field as a whole, but some valiant efforts provided good results and incredible racing for spectators.

In Sunday’s Cat 3 event in Lee’s Summit, Ryan Kelley turned himself inside-out trying to catch a breakaway by Colavita’s Andrew Lyles. Lyles had lead a two-man charge, which failed earlier in the race, but then made a solo run for it with about a third of the race to go. Kelley was getting no help from the field, and busted it on the front of the chase for several laps. His effort kept his teammates in contention, but left himself spent. Shawn Knight and James Summers were the only Big D survivors in the race, which saw nearly a third of the starters shattered.

Knight, Summers and Ryan Rochford also competed in the Cat 3/4 earlier in the day with good results: 8th, 12th and 15th, respectively. In the women’s 3/4’s, Lynn Wilson got 7th in a tough, fast field.

The day before, at New Longview, our riders dealt with a crazy course and a wind that seemed to be shifting all day. Kurt Wilson and Paul Aldeguer battled for the second half of the race to close down a gap which had formed with about ten riders leading. The Bat was close behind and the three of them finished 12th, 13th and 15th respectively. If you weren’t in the top ten heading around the first turn from the start, it was difficult to move up. There was no place to grab a break, and by the time riders completed their first four turns, there was a hill and wind to contend with. The field was strung out from the whistle.

Lynn Wilson, who fought some familiar, and not so familiar faces snagged a fourth place finish in the women’s 4’s. In the Masters 40+, Paul Aldeguer finished well with another lucky 13th place.

See more Dan Ruettimann Photography images from Sunday’s racing here.