Only two weeks ago this kid stood on the top step. Richie Rude may be some 31 seconds back right now, but with two days of epic racing to go, he's not to be counted out.
Aces on stage one, but a bit too much time examining the dirt on stage two; but that's racing. But Jerome Clementz is comfortably in the top ten and well within contact of Graves with two big days remaining.
Greg Callaghan is slowly coming back into form. His grip strength remains not the best following his training injury in Tweed, but he's back out and looking to regain the form that saw him take the win in Ireland.
See that dust cloud back up the trail? That's where Graves took a few seconds to throw in some cartwheels on the top of stage two. Not a worry, though, he's still on top, but a three second lead over Nico Vouilloz, the alien, is hardly a safe lead with two days of racing remaining.
Not the best day for T-Mo, but you can't win them all. Fifth overall on the day--fifth on stage one and fourth on stage two. And while she may be nearly a minute back after a single day of racing, there are two big stages tomorrow, as well as the remainings stages on Sunday. So don't count Moseley out.
Cecile Ravenel and Anka Martin on the death march to the top of transfer stage 2. The final mile climbed 600 vertical feet, depositing riders at 11,500 feet above sea level.
The working man's hero: Joe Barnes was smooth as glass in some of the rougher sections of track... good enough to land him in the top 20 despite living at sea level.
Anneke Beerten was on a tear today despite a crash that cut open her knee on stage one. She never complained about the knee, instead calmly going about the business of taking over the top spot on the day.