March 31, 2004 – U.S. Olympic hopefuls, Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Mary McConneloug (Fairfax, Calif.) continued their pursuit for a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike team this weekend, competing in the GP Provincia di Lucca, an E1 classified UCI event in Castelnuovo Garfagnana, Italy.

With UCI ranking being the likely selection criteria that results in the nomination of the rider that will nab the sole U.S. women's mountain bike spot, some of America's top female mountain biking talent have been competing internationally in search of valuable UCI points.

As part of the Italian Cup Series, the prestigious GP Provincia di Lucca resembled a World Cup event as the start list featured some of the world's more notable names. If that reference is true, Dunlap's goal of making up lost ground after missing last season because of an injury is well within reach. Dunlap placed second behind Italy's Annabella Stropparo on her way to taking home 35 UCI points. Come World Cup season, a win is worth 150 points.

Early in the race, Stropparo set the pace in front of a hometown crowd, while Dunlap and McConneloug followed in second and third respectively. Over rolling terrain, Stropparo eventually opened up a gap on the pair of Americans and held it for the remainder of the race. Behind, McConneloug fell off the pace as Dunlap maintained her tempo for the silver medal. McConneloug finished in third, taking home 30 UCI points.

“It was a little too close with Mary as she is probably my biggest hurdle to making the Olympic team,” Dunlap said. “She's riding really well so it was good to finish ahead of her.”

Because of the tight finish between the two Americans, Dunlap netted only a five point advantage to McConneloug, slightly closing the significant gap that separates them in the overall standings. Sue Haywood (Davis, W.Va.) currently leads all Americans in UCI ranking.

Dunlap next travels to Croatia for the Croatia-Giant GP Istria on Saturday, then it's on to Austria for Sunday's Kamptal-Klassik-Trophy before returning stateside for the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif.