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MTB News and Notes: No kickbacks for Team USA

By Jason Sumner, VeloNews associate editor
Published: Jun. 24, 2004

As recently as Wednesday, the folks at USA Cycling were still holding out hope that the UCI was going to award them a “kickback” start spot for the women’s Olympic cross-country race this summer in Athens, but now it looks like that won’t happen.

Following an e-mail exchange with Régis Alexandre, the UCI’s mountain bike sports coordinator, VeloNews has learned that while one start spot in the women’s race has become available, the spot is “reserved only for a country without a place,” Alexandre wrote.

That means the U.S. will not be getting back the spot it lost to the UCI’s special provision, which reduced its women’s MTB Olympic team from two to one, and set in motion the ridiculous mad-dash points chase that has been underway since February.

Earlier in the week, USAC’s Steve Johnson said that his organization was “pulling out all the stops” in hopes of obtaining a spot placed back in the mix when the country it was originally awarded to declined to use it. “We’re not going to get excited, though.” Johnson admitted.

Alexandre told VeloNews that four men’s and one women’s start spots were back in play as of Thursday, and an announcement as to who they would be awarded to would come by the end of the month. Alexandre would not divulge who those places would be going to, and because this is the UCI we’re talking about, I’m not even going to venture a guess.

This decision is an obvious blow to Alison Dunlap, who likely would have been a shoe-in for a second team USA spot based on her fourth-place position in the current World Cup ranking. Chief rivals Mary McConneloug and Sue Haywood are 14th and 16th respectively.

Instead it’s back to the UCI rankings where Dunlap sits 19th with 777 points as of June 21. Haywood currently is in the lead at fifth with 1307, while McConneloug is seventh with 1260.

The points race continues the next two weekends with World Cups in Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec and Calgary, Alberta. Then it’s back across the Atlantic for what could be the deciding race, the marathon world championships in Bad Goisern, Austria on July 11th.

No way this would have been on any of their schedules normally, but with a trip to Athens on the line (the race winner gets 200 UCI points), Dunlap, McConneloug and Haywood will all likely be there (VeloNews confirmed that Dunlap and Haywood have already bought their plane tickets).

Haywood actually got out and did a test ride on the marathon course during the Schladming World Cup last weekend and says it’s going to be a tough day. “I think the winning time will probably be around six hours,” said Haywood, who pre-rode the 100km track over two days. “There’s a lot of climbing on gravel roads, and at the start is a heinous granny gear climb. There’s a lot of road descending. The only single track is between road sections and they’re pretty rough.”

Haywood says she can’t remember the last time she rode for that long. “Maybe I did a six-hour road ride like four or five years ago,” she guessed. “It’s going to be a tough race. I think a lot of people are going to be there.”

Besides the three Olympic contenders, USA Cycling released a list of six other Americans who have confirmed for the race in Austria. Charlie Storm, Chris Eatough and Nat Ross have signed on for the men’s race, while Melissa Thomas, Abigail Hippley and Jessica Kisiel will be at the startline for the women’s contest. Luna pro Shonny Vanlandingham was also on that list, but a team spokesman said it’s very unlikely she’ll make the trip.

Storm earned his nomination with a win in the marathon event at the third round of the 2004 NORBA National Series in Big Bear Lake, while Eatough solidified his spot on the team with a win at round No. 4 in Snowshoe. Ross is in based on being the highest-ranked rider in the overall NORBA marathon standings.

Thomas earned her nomination with a win in Snowshoe, while Hippley and Kisiel received nominations as the top two ranked riders in the overall NORBA marathon series. Also earning automatic nominations but declining their spots were Kelli Emmett, Willow Koerber, Dave Wiens and Ryan Trebon.