March 13, 2004 – Stage two of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series opener in Waco, Texas featured the short track event this afternoon and if early season form is any indication of who will be a threat when the Olympic Games roll around in August, Canada will certainly be one of the key players after impressive performances today. In the first UCI sanctioned mountain bike race on American soil this year, Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) and Alison Sydor (CAN) posted victories. Sydor, a three-time World Champion, narrowly defeated two-time U.S. Olympian, Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in a two-up sprint at the end of the 20-minute race. Afterwards, Hesjedal led a strong Canadian charge in the men's event.
John Devine (Dixon, Ill.), the 18-year old phenom on the U.S. National U23 Mountain Bike Team, claimed the only podium spot for American men today in his first-ever pro event, placing fifth.
The women's race began in awkward fashion as a crash 200 meters after the gun sounded caused a 30 minute delay and resulted in a restart, but once the race was again underway, the focus turned to the top American riders who were in the hunt for an Olympic berth. With the sole women's spot based on UCI ranking, the points up for grabs today held significant meaning for a handful of riders, most notably, Dunlap who is now fully recovered from an injury that sidelined her for most of the 2003 season.
Early in the race, Sydor's Rocky Mountain teammate, Sarah Noble (CAN), held onto a solo break for a few laps of the half-mile short track circuit before being reeled in. Once the main field was back together, a few attacks from Jimena Florit (ARG) animated the otherwise conservative race.
On the final lap, the key players pushed the pace and heading into the long backstretch Dunlap and Sydor managed to open up a slight gap. With positioning vital heading into the final hairpin turn 50 yards from the finish, Sydor took control and held off Dunlap for the win. Behind, Dunlap's teammate, Katerina Hanusova (CZE) took third ahead of fourth place finisher, Sue Haywood (Davis, W. Va.) and Chrissy Redden (CAN).
Hoping for the win, a somewhat disappointed Dunlap spoke afterwards. “It was all about positioning going into the last corner,” she said. “Alison and I fought for that last corner, but she jumped ahead of me on the flat. I knew I had to be first into that turn, but I just couldn't quite get there.”
Sydor, no stranger to the top step on the podium over the years, claimed her third consecutive NORBA National Mountain Bike Series short track win. “It was a really tactical race,” Sydor explained. ” Once Sarah was off the front, we were able to make all the others do the work. I just sat in to see who was going to chase and knew it was going to be a sprint.”
In the men's race, a dominating performance was turned in by a trio of Canadians as Hesjedal, Seamus McGrath, and Geoff Kabush managed to ride away from the rest of the competition along with local rider, Jason Sager (Austin, Texas.). The four riders worked together to increase the gap to a second group which included U.S. Olympic hopefuls, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo.), Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, W.Va.) and Todd Wells (Durango, Colo.). The American trio, along with the U23 National Team, led the chase to the group ahead which ousted Sager before the final few laps. Heading into the final stretch it became a two-horse race as McGrath and Hesjedal fought for position in the final corner. Hesjedal took the inside line and came underneath before an impressive sprint netted him the win. Behind, Kabush easily took third, and Andreas Hestler (CAN) took fourth. Devine raced a tactically savvy final lap on all counts and claimed the final podium spot with a late charge out of the final corner.
“I had good traction all day going into that final corner,” Hesjedal explained. “I just took it as hard as I could and took the inside line and that was the difference.”