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The race for Beijing: An Offenburg report card

by VeloNews.com

• May 02, 2008
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By Fred Dreier

Two rounds of the 2008 UCI World Cup are now in the books, and the North American chase for the Beijing Olympics is beginning to take shape. Round two saw riders tackle the 5.1km course in Offenburg, Germany, which many have referred to as the most technical ride on the World Cup circuit.

It’s not that the Offenburg course is peppered with rocks — quite the opposite. The dirt trail was relatively buffed compared to the rocky, gravely courses of Colorado or California. But organizers in Offenburg built in a handful of short, super-steep drops into the lap, which tested a rider’s skill and bravery.

Need an example? The Wolfsdrop sent riders careening down a near-vertical 10-foot pitch onto a short, paved landing pad. Riders had to squeeze a handful of brake to keep from careening into the trees lining the landing. The Dual Speed section gave riders two choices of trail to descent, but both featured steep log drop-offs. It was common to see even experienced pros dismount and run.

On the eve of the race USA Cycling made crystal clear its selection procedure for the games, in addition to the already stated rule that awards an automatic spot to any woman finishing inside the top-three or man inside the top-five at a European World Cup. If no one meets the automatic criteria, then USA Cycling will pick the riders with the lowest combined placing for his/her three best finishes prior to June 23.

“For example, if one rider places fourth, fifth and 10th, their combined score would be 19. A second rider places sixth, seventh and eighth giving the rider a score of 21,” said Pat McDonough, USA Cycling’s athletics director, in an email to members of the Olympic Long Team. “In this case the first rider would be selected by merit of their lower score.”

So who did what in Offenburg?

Marie-Héléne Prémont
Prémont again scored the top North American finish of the weekend, finishing second after initially trailing the lead group of Ying Liu, Marga Fullana and Irina Kalentieva. With Liu and Fullana pushing the pace early, Prémont rode conservatively until Kalentieva unleashed her winning attack.

Worth noting is that Prémont traveled back to her native Quebéc between the Houffalize and Offenburg races. The Quebecer, who is finishing up her degree in Pharmacology, had to take an exam.

Prémont is now ranked third in the World Cup standings.

Adam Craig
Craig came into 2008 as the frontrunner to take an American Olympic spot, as his international results from the past three seasons stand as the most consistently good of any American man. It was still a surprise to see Craig ride his way up into the front group of riders, bumping elbows with the likes of Julien Absalon, Christoph Sauser and Roel Paulissen. After Absalon attacked Craig led the chase, but fired off one too many bullets while in second place.

“I figured shoot, I’m pretty comfortable and a top-three would sort me out [for the Olympics],” Craig said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But I figured I’d have to take a try.”

He faded to eighth, but his overall ranking is now eighth.

Catherine Pendrel
Pendrel turned heads in Houffalize by riding her way up to third place before imploding spectacularly and fading to 13th. But in Offenburg the petite Canadian proved Houffalize was no fluke, and again set out on a swashbuckling mission to reach the front of the race. This time she paced things better and rolled across in eighth place.

“My strategy is to get to the front early because I don’t like dealing with traffic,” Pendrel said. “At a race like this if you don’t make every moment count you lose five spots. That’s motivating to me.”

With the stellar show Pendrel moved a major step closer to grabbing Canada’s second women’s spot.

Todd Wells
Wells enjoyed a second-row call up after his brilliant 11th place ride in Houffalize. He made the race’s front group alongside countryman Craig and GT teammate Burry Stander. But the pace proved too hot for the Coloradan, who admitted he had little left on the final lap and faded from 12th to 23rd place.

“Oh man I was suffering. I was just doing everything I could to stay on the bike,” Wells said. Still, Wells’ current place in the standings give him a large lead over his competitors.

Max Plaxton
Plaxton again suffered a DNF in Offenburg. But while a broken derailleur in the opening kilometers kicked poor Plaxton out of Houffalize, it was a nasty pileup on one of the course’s steep drops that felled him at Offenburg. The result does not bode well for Plaxton’s Olympic ambitions.

Seamus McGrath
McGrath was another Canadian to enjoy a banner day in Offenburg, making the front group and crossing the line in ninth place. The result shines for the 2004 Olympian, who signed a late-season contract with the European-based Fuji team after Rocky Mountain sent him packing. McGrath and Geoff Kabush now appear locks to grab Canada’s two men’s spots.

Subaru-Gary Fisher
The Wisconsin-based team suffered another string of setbacks in Offenburg. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski struggled to make up ground from his starting position in the 60s, the result of a badly timed puncture in Houffalize. JHK then flatted again and suffered a crash, rolling across the line in 61st. It’s looking like the 2004 Athens Olympian will need a miracle to top Craig and Wells.

The team’s two female Olympic hopefuls fared worse. An ailing Heather Irmiger was pulled after being lapped. Willow Koerber advanced up from her 44th starting position only to suffer a bad crash on the final lap and lose more than 10 spots to finish 46th.

Trek-Volkswagen
The other Wisconsin-based squad had mixed success. Susan Haywood paced herself well to finish 31st. But the result paled in comparison to her 11th place finish in 2007. But Haywood rides best when conditions are worst, and in ’07 the race saw rain and mud.

Jeremiah Bishop again struggled with bad legs, and was pulled.

Mary McConneloug
McConneloug enjoyed a fast start in Offenburg, riding her way into the top-10 by the end of lap one. She eventually faded to 16th, but now boasts a World Cup ranking of 16th as the second American woman.

Georgia Gould
Gould grabbed the hole shot in Offenburg and rode the first of two shorter laps comfortably in second, on the wheel of Marga Fullana. But Gould admitted her legs could only maintain one speed, and as the race wore on she faded to 13th.

“I won the race to the first corner!” Gould said after the race. “It was really difficult. I just couldn’t jump on the wheels as they went by today.”

Gould is still ranked as the top American woman in seventh place.

The World Cup continues this weekend in Madrid, Spain.