November 3, 2007 – Here are the latest UCI MTB XC rankings, including men’s , women’s and country totals as of October 18. Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea, tops the men’s list, with a total of 2,260 points. Top Canadian is Geoff Kabush (Can) Maxxis in 11th with 916 points. Irina Kalentyeva (Rus) Topeak-Ergon leads the women’s rankings with 2,164 points. Marie-Hélène Prémont (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood is top Canadian in fifth place, with 1,420 points.

The quota for the number of athletes countries are allowed to send to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics is nearly finalized. The final country quotas will be determined using the rankings between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007. As there are only three UCI XC races left before the end of the year, and all three are in Chile, the rankings are expected to stay the same.

Olympic quotas allow the top five countries in the men’s rankings to send the maximum of three riders and the top eight countries in the women’s rankings to send a maximum of two riders. In the 2007 men’s rankings, France is ranked first with 4,315 points, while the Canadian men are ranked ninth with 1,937 points – this means Canada will likely only get two spots.

On the women’s side, China is number one with 4,334 points, while the Canadian women are ranked fourth with 3,062 points. This all but secures the Canadian women two Olympic spots. The country totals from last year still need to be combined with the totals at the end of this year, however, in order to determine the official quotas.

UCI MTB XCO Rankings as of October 18, 2007

Country Ranking

Men

1. France 4,315 points
2. Switzerland 3,284
3. Spain 3,047
4. Germany 2,591
5. Belgium 2,487
6. Sweden 2,021
7. United States of America 2,019
8. Denmark 1,970
9. Canada 1,937
10. Czech Republic 1,791

Women

1. People’s Republic of China 4,334 points
2. United States of America 3,541
3. Germany 3,069
4. Canada 3,062
5. Russian Federation 2,654
6. France 2,263
7. Poland 2,188
8. Czech Republic 2,119
9. Switzerland 2,112
10. Slovenia 2,107

Individual Ranking

Men

1. Julien Absalon (Fra) Orbea 2,260 points
2. Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos (Esp) Multivan/Merida Biking Team 1,676
3. Fredrik Kessiakoff (Swe) Cannondale-Vredestein 1,496
4. Christoph Sauser (Sui) Specialized 1,407
5. Roel Paulissen (Bel) Cannondale-Vredestein 1,295
6. Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Cannondale-Vredestein 1,046
7. Cedric Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 1,045
8. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Fra) Orbea 1,010
9. Manuel Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 988
10. Nino Schurter (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 978
11. Geoff Kabush (Can) Maxxis 916
12. Ralph Naef (Sui) Multivan/Merida Biking Team 899
13. Wolfram Kurschat (Ger) 895
14. Florian Vogel (Sui) Swisspower MTB Team 848
15. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) Versluys-Landbouwkrediet MTB Team 813
16. Adam Craig (USA) Giant Mountain Bike Team 808
17. Yader Zoli (Ita) Asd Ktm International Team 784
18. Kashi Leuchs (NZl) Cannondale-Vredestein 774
19. Peter Riis Andersen (Den) Team Alb-Gold Mountainbike 765
20. Jaroslav Kulhavy (Cze) 765
21. Inaki Lejarreta Errasti (Esp) Orbea 745
22. Lado Fumic (Ger) Fumic.Brothers.International 708
23. Christoph Soukup (Aut) 701
24. Milan Spesny (Cze) Merida Biking Team 696
25. Burry Stander (RSA) GT 670
26. Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Dolphin Bike Team 643
27. Rudi Van Houts (Ned) Dolphin Bike Team 628
28. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 628
29. Carlos Coloma Nicolas (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica 626
30. Marek Galinski (Pol) 617
31. Lukas Fluckiger (Sui) 603
32. Todd Wells (USA) GT 583
33. Oliver Beckingsale (GBr) 581
34. Yury Trofimov (Rus) 559
35. Ruben Ruzafa Cueto (Esp) Orbea 547
36. Max Plaxton (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 524
37. Jeremiah Bishop (USA) Trek-VW 516
38. Seamus McGrath (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 497
39. Bart Brentjens (Ned) Dolphin Bike Team 490
40. Ivan Alvarez Gutierrez (Esp) Asd KTM International Team 483

74. Derek Zandstra (Can) 3 Rocks Racing 285
76. Neal Kindree (Can) Kona/Les Gets 268
77. Ricky Federau (Can) Trek 268
131. Raphael Gagne (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 169
149. Mathieu Toulouse (Can) Maxxis 153
155. Mike Garrigan (Can) Jetpower-Epic Ride 139
166. Kris Sneddon (Can) Kona/Les Gets 125
168. Andrew Watson (Can) Team RACE 122
244. Matthew Hadley (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 84
314. Martin Lazarski (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 63
352. Benoit Simard (Can) Specialized 55
380. Frederic Bussieres (Can) 50
389. Adam Morka (Can) 49
394. Roddi Lega (Can) United Cycles 48
438. Daniel Sessford (Can) 40
497. Jonathan Boulanger (Can) 34
511. Stefan Widmer (Can) 32
516. Leni Gelinas-Trudel (Can) 31
557. Craig Richey (Can) 29
572. Ryan Edwards (Can) 26
641. Matthew Green (Can) 21
685. Georges-Edouard Duquette (Can) 19
741. Cameron Jette (Can) 16
753. Mathew Hewitt (Can) 16
756. Bruno Lafontaine (Can) 16
796. Ryan Taylor (Can) 14
804. Peter Glassford (Can) 14
836. Andrew Thomas (Can) 12
853. Marc-Andre Daigle (Can) 12
890. Daniel Nemetchek (Can) 10
900. Shawn Bunnin (Can) 10
933. Kyle Douglas (Can) 9
986. Kelly Guest (Can) 8
1005. Ian Carbonneau (Can) 8
1021. Matthew Cottrell (Can) 7
1029. Cory Wallace (Can) 7
1064. Aaron Schooler (Can) 6
1065. Andy Translin (Can) 6
1114. Matt Law (Can) 5
1123. Thomas Skinner (Can) 5
1146. Kyle Kennedy (Can) 4
1153. Colin Kerr (Can) 4
1194. Brian Bain (Can) 3
1200. Zach Gammage (Can) 3
1241. Andre Sutton (Can) 2
1295. Carsten Ivany (Can) 1

Women

1. Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak-Ergon 2,164
2. Sabine Spitz (Ger) Ghost International Racing Team 1,887
3. Ren Chengyuan (Chn) China 1,623
4. Ying Liu (Chn) China 1,542
5. Marie-Hélène Prémont (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 1,420
6. Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Women’s MTB Team 1,375
7. Elisabeth Osl (Aut) Tonis Pro Team Kirchberg 1,186
8. Jingjing Wang (Chn) China 1,169
9. Mary McConneloug (USA) Kenda Seven 1,152
10. Tereza Hurikova (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 1,068
11. Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 1,014
12. Petra Henzi (Sui) Fischer-Bmc 973
13. Margarita Fullana (Esp) Spiuk-Tau Ceramica 910
14. Lene Byberg (Nor) Specialized 908
15. Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Women’s MTB Team 906
16. Kiara Bisaro (Can) Opus 878
17. Blaza Klemencic (Slo) Pintatim Full-Dynamix 863
18. Cecile Rode Ravanel (Fra) Team Lapierre International 857
19. Anna Szafraniec (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team 821
20. Rosara Joseph (NZl) 808
21. Laura Turpijn (Ned) 779
22. Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team 775
23. Laurence Leboucher (Fra) 766
24. Catharine Pendrel (Can) Norco Factory Team 764
25. Nina Homovec (Slo) 743
26. Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher 707
27. Ivonne Kraft (Ger) 688
28. Sabrina Enaux (Fra) Team Lapierre International 640
29. Katrin Leumann (Sui) 634
30. Eva Lechner (Ita) 631
31. Anna Enocsson (Swe) Ghost International Racing Team 628
32. Janka Stevkova (Svk) 609
33. Magdalena Sadlecka (Pol) Halls Professional MTB Team 592
34. Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa (Nor) Multivan/Merida Biking Team 580
35. Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) 505
36. Nina Gohl (Ger) Multivan/Merida Biking Team 494
37. Maroussia Rusca (Sui) 473
38. Elsbeth Van Rooij-Vink (Ned) Beone Mountain Bike Team 466
39. Tanja Zakelj (Slo) 465
40. Yolanda Speedy (RSA) 459

45. Sandra Walter (Can) X.O-Felt 430
57. Emily Batty (Can) Team RACE 327
66. Amanda Sin (Can) 3 Rocks Racing 292
67. Mical Dyck (Can) Trek/Terrascape 292
68. Wendy Simms (Can) Kona/Les Gets 291
129. Meghan Kindree (Can) 133
145. Catherine Vipond (Can) 119
148. Caroline Villeneuve (Can) 116
161. Alison Sydor (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 103
189. Kathleen Villeneuve (Can) 82
204. Julie Sanders (Can) 77
231. Jean Ann McKirdy (Can) Rocky Mountain/Haywood 68
270. Karine Travaillaud (Can) 52
282. Sue Trimble-Haviland (Can) 49
285. Patricia Sinclair (Can) 48
297. Melanie McQuaid (Can) BMC-Nature’s Path 45
346. Pepper Harlton (Can) 36
361. Marie-Claude Surprenant (Can) 33
377. Andrea Bunnin (Can) 30
392. Kaitlin Michener (Can) 28
426. Marie Allaire (Can) 22
442. Lesley Tucker (Can) 19
465. Kylie Case (Can) 16
562. Erica Musyj (Can) 7
573. Elsie Torresan (Can) 6
595. K. J. Sadler (Can) 5
599. Christy Love (Can) 4
627. Mathilde Hupin-Debeurme (Can) 3
635. Loni Klettl (Can) 2
637. Heather Gray (Can) 2
656. Christine Misseghers (Can) 1
664. Emilie Gagnon (Can) 1
666. Caroline Lavoie (Can) 1