MTB News and Notes: Bon Jovi in, Green out
By Jason Sumner
VeloNews associate editor
This report filed October 2, 2003
With the mountain biking season all but done and the "silly" season yet to fully ramp up, things are pretty quiet in the fat-tire world. Of course there was last weekend's Tour de Dewey here in Boulder, Colorado, but for the most part I've been sworn to secrecy on that one, except to say that when they put their minds to it, some of America's top cross-country pros can sure throw down the beers.
Things will get rolling again in earnest in two weeks when the cycling world descends on Las Vegas for the Interbike Trade Show. Expect lots of team/rider news and look for the unveiling of the 2003 NORBA schedule. In the meantime here's a few notes to chew on.
Rock and roll racing
Got an e-mail from a guy named Jacob Fetty the other day. Turns out Fetty runs a small sport promotion/training outfit and he wanted to tell me about one of his clients. According to Fetty, he's been charged with putting together a mountain bike racing team that's to be funded by the world's most famous big-hair rocker - Jon Bon Jovi. Fetty said that last season Bon Jovi Inc. Management backed a smaller team in partnership with the West Virginia tourism board, but this year he's looking to ramp things up even more.
Fetty said that the team will include six riders - three or four who will be pros - who focus on the NORBA circuit. There will also be a regional development team that will focus on the mid-Atlantic region. As for Bon Jovi's direct involvement with mountain biking, word is he likes to ride but doesn't see himself as a racer.
Green bags Hamilton
According to a news release from the Canadian Cycling Association offices earlier this week, former world cross-country champion Roland Green has decided not to contest the time trial at the road world's after all. The CCA said that Green's doctors had advised against making the trip east from Victoria to Hamilton, and that he should instead stay off the bike for the next month in order to fully recuperate form a litany of ailments that plagued him throughout the 2003 mountain bike campaign.
"I'm obviously very disappointed, but my health is my number one priority," Green said. "I thought I would be ready to go. I was really looking forward to world's, especially with them being in Canada and all. That makes it even harder to miss them."
Jean-Francois Laroche, 23, of Magog, Quebec, will take the place vacated by Green.
Canada throws in the towel
Ran into Canadian cross-country pro Geoff Kabush here in Boulder last week, and he told me at the time that after a few rest days (read Tour de Dewey), he was heading back over to Europe to hit a few late season races in hopes of grabbing enough UCI points to put Canada back into the top five of the nation rankings. The Canadian men fell out of the top five in August, and that in turn cost them a start spot at next year's Olympics in Athens.
Four days later, though, Kabush said the plan had been scrapped.
"The Germans picked up some more points and it just got to the point where it wasn't going to happen for us," lamented Kabush, referring to Germany, who is fifth in the nation rankings while Canada sits sixth.
That means that with just two start spots, the chase for a place on the Canadian men's cross-country team will be as tight as they come. Besides 2000 Olympians Kabush and Roland Green, Ryder Hesjedal, Seamus McGrath and Chris Sheppard will all be in the mix for those two spots.
Kabush said that he didn't know how the team would be selected yet, but expected it to be similar to 2000 when one spot was a coach's selection and the other was determined by a qualification race.
Here's a look at those UCI nation rankings following the World Cup finals in Kaprun. And while there are still a few races yet to be contested this year, don't expect much to change. In the men's cross-country, the top five get three Olympic start spots, with the next 10 getting two each. For the women, it's three for the top three, two for those ranked four to nine, and one for 10 to 14.
Men's UCI cross-country nation rankings:
1. France, 3349 points
2. Netherlands, 3256
3. Switzerland, 3226
4. Belgium , 2978
5. Germany, 2782
6. Canada, 2472
7. Spain, 2311
8. Austria, 1899
9. Italy, 1748
10. Poland, 1709
11. Great Britain, 1346
12. Australia, 1251
13. USA, 1215
14. Denmark, 1100
15. Czech Republic, 1085
Women's UCI cross-country nation rankings:
1. Germany, 3467 points
2. Poland, 3107
3. Canada, 2821
4. Switzerland, 2773
5. Spain, 2233
6. France, 2184
7. USA, 1994
8. Netherlands, 1713
9. Norway, 1550
10. Australia, 1449
11. Austria, 1406
12. Italy, 1397
13. Russia, 1109
14. Brazil, 1027
15. Sweden, 772
Swisspower Cup final
Marathon world champion Thomas Frischknecht checked in with his final mountain biking report of the season from the Swisspower Cup finals in Volketswil.