March 22, 2004
Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the Maxxis Cup International on
Sunday March 21, gaining valuable UCI points in her pursuit for a spot
on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Mountain Bike Team. After
winning the cross country event and placing second in the short track
at the 2004 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series opener in Waco, Texas last weekend, Dunlap and her Luna Chix teammate,
Shonny Vanlandingham (Durango, Colo.) made the trip to Europe to compete in
a series of UCI E1 classified events in a so far successful effort
to earn points. Under
USA Cycling’s Olympic selection procedures, the rider with the
most UCI points as of July 12, 2004 will receive an automatic nomination
for the sole U.S. women’s mountain bike spot in Athens. The first criteria used for selection,
a top-three finish at the 2003 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships,
went unfulfilled. Similar to the trails
she trains on around her Colorado
Springs home, the course in Gouveia, along with
a lack of top international talent, provided Dunlap with a comfortable
advantage heading into the event. The
course began with a convoluted series of short steep climbs amongst
the trees before giving way to a long road climb and a couple of “hike-a-bike” sections. More road climbing and a technical, steep
descent followed. The race was fast from
the gun and Dunlap managed to escape from the rest of the group within
five minutes where she remained until the finish. Vanlandingham
placed second.
Dunlap continues her quest to make
the Olympic team next weekend at the GP Provincia di Lucca near Pisa, Italy, another UCI E1 classified event.
