In 2007 the inaugural BC Bike Race served up seven days of technical singletrack, breathtaking scenery and predictable front-of-the-race action. Trek-Volkswagen’s duo of Chris Eatough and Jeff Schalk won every single stage en route to a 43-minute overall victory.

That won’t be the case in 2008.

This year the BC Bike Race, which runs June 28 – July 4, boasts a stacked field beaming with talented North American cross-country pros. The sold-out race again begins in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, and ends on the mainland at Whistler Resort, sending riders on a journey of approximately 550 kilometers.

Eatough and Schalk will return to defend their win from 2007, with both men racing the National Ultra-Endurance Series in preparation. But looking to topple the duo are a cast of fast men: Canadian Olympian Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard; reigning 24-hour world champion Tinker Juarez and his Cannondale-Monavie team partner Mitchell Peterson; Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks of team Kona; Nat Ross and Chris Beck of Subaru-Gary Fisher; Canadian Olympian Andreas Hestler and Pan American champ Max Plaxton; and Marvin Suazo and Luis de Ezpeleta, two Costa Rican riders who star in that nation’s biggest race, La Ruta de los Conquistadores.

“Chris and I want to win, that’s one of our big goals for this year,” said Schalk. “It’s definitely going to be a much different race than last year.”