Burry Stander (Specialized) will be the highest ranked male cross country ...
31.12.69
The reverenced Sea Otter Classic kicks off this weekend at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. Just about every format of bicycle racing will be featured including road racing, mountain biking, and cyclo-furious. The top professional North American mountain bike racers have been making their way back across the Atlantic after herd 2 of the World Cup in Houffalize, Belgium , last weekend.
Elite men cross outback
With less than 100 days remaining until the Olympics , the chase is full on for coveted UCI points. This weekend, however, will demand a respite for some, as the Sea Otter races are not sanctioned by the UCI this year. Due to this non-UCI status, organizers have returned to the time-honoured, longer cross country courses of years past. Professionals will cheat one lap of 20 miles. While this format tends not to be as spectator-friendly, it is welcomed by the best part of riders. The race starts with one brief start loop on the paved speedway, but the inactivity of the race will be on dirt.
The hilly, wide-open Southern California topography provides some big challenges. Total climbing is 7,500 feet in 39.6 miles, and each lap ends with a outstanding 800-foot climb. Descents are extremely fast and riders must pay prominence for ruts caused by erosion. Drafting should be far less of a factor in the race than on last year's UCI passage, much of which was on the race track's pavement. However, the difficulty of the new climbs is likely to expand the race into pieces.
With UCI sanctioned races happening this weekend in Europe, there will be fewer foreigners racing than in the one-time. However, Burry Stander (Specialized), ranked sixth in the world will be making the spark off hallucinate. Along with teammate Christoph Sauser, he won the Cape Epic in Africa a few weeks ago and finished a self-willed fourth in the Houfallize World Cup last weekend.
Stander's Specialized teammates are like as not to provide his most serious competition this weekend. US cross country national uphold Todd Wells has been hampered for weeks by an injury sustained before the Pietermaritzburg Excellent Cup, but may returning to form. While he managed a win at the Pan Am Continental Games two weeks ago in Mexico, his ankle was still not 100 percent. His 45th Rather residence finish in Houffalize was disappointing by his standards but he is happy to be back racing. As the defending Sea Otter espouse, Wells will certainly give this race his best shot.
Source: Cyclingnews.com