Breckenridge’s Lasse Konecny started the 2022 mountain bike season believing that he may not make it to a single starting line. Facing multiple health issues in the weeks leading up to the start of the season, Konecny felt like his season had buckled before it had even started.

Despite missing a significant amount of training, Konecny found himself on numerous start lines this season, two of which included mountain biking nationals in Winter Park and a world cup race in Snowshoe, West Virginia. 

After performing well at the Union Cycliste Internationale world cup race last month, a start line still loomed at large in Konecny’s mind: the 2022 Breck Epic.

Konecny, 18, finished ninth place last year in the race in his own backyard, and he longed to improve upon his finish.

With friends, family and neighbors cheering him on along the way Konecny got off to a fantastic start — winning the first stage of the six-stage race all while being one of the youngest participants in the men’s pro field.

“The goal for this year was to get a stage win so I was pretty happy with that stage win,” Konecny said. “After the stage win I was feeling pretty tired but I got one goal done in the first day and could now enjoy the rest of the week. I wasn’t really expecting to hold first place, obviously, Lachlan Morton is a world tour rider. “

Throughout the rest of the multi-stage race, Konecny —who races for Bear National Team — continued to put himself in the top of the field. On stage two of the race, Konecny placed second overall before Tuesday’s race was postponed due to early morning thunderstorms moving throughout the area.

The Breck Epic race officials decided to then remove stage four of the race, making the race a five-stage race instead of a six-stage race.

“I think the unexpected cancellation was a good choice,” Konecny said. “I kept the legs moving, took an hour spin to Frisco and back. I kept it easy, didn’t stress about it. I was pretty happy to have a day off just from the first two days.”

Following the unplanned rest day, Konency started where he left off and completed the third stage in a time of 3 hours, 26 minutes and 10 seconds for second place, trailing the races’ leader Lachlan Morton of Boulder by around five minutes.

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In the last two stages, Konecny started to feel the burn but did enough to fend off his competitors behind him. Konecny finished the fourth stage in fourth place in a time of 2:49:18 and the final stage in 2:02:54 for third place. 

Konecny finished in a total time of 14:34:09 for second place, improving upon last year’s performance by seven places.

“I didn’t have any expectations but knew I was stronger this year with all of the health challenges I have had,” Konecny said of his jump this year. “This week was a breakthrough week for myself, I surprised myself each day with my performance. Second place wasn’t a surprise but definitely something that I knew was achievable — but I had to prove to myself that I could do it.”

Morton, 30, gave a consistent effort over the final two stages creating a bigger gap between him and the younger Konecny.

Morton crossed the finish line for the last time with a total time of 14:15:30. In third place was Kona Adventure Team’s Cory Wallace who finished the race in a time of 14:41:47.

Trailing Wallace was the men’s pro field’s second Summit resident in Frisco, Nolan Van Harte, who cruised to a fourth-place finish with a time of 15:04:05.

The women’s professional race was not as close as the men’s with Katerina Nash running away with the competition from the first stage of the race. 

Specialized and Clif Bar sponsored rider, Nash finished in first place in every single stage completing the third stage in a time of 4:04:35 and the fourth in a time of 3:23:59.

Nash finished the final stage with a time of 2:27:55 to finish the grueling endurance race in a time of 17:28:43. Following in Nash’s tread marks was Sonya Looney, who placed second in every stage of the race.

Looney finished over an hour behind Nash in a time of 18:39:44. Kelsey Devereaux of Indianapolis placed third, finishing in a time of 23:57:32 to beat Emily Leonard of Fort Wayne, Indiana in fourth place. 

The 2022 Breck Epic also featured many other age categories and divisions including co-ed races, the three-stage epic and single-speed bike races. For a full listing of results visit, BreckEpic.ItsYourRace.com.