By Ed Arnet
Of all the juicy gossip at the second NORBA National in Wisconsin, our favorite was how the Nationals are turning into shoving matches to see who will be the top American -- not the best rider. Out of the 80 possible top ten finishes over the weekend, Americans filled only 39 of them. Except for Alison Dunlap, Tara Llanes and Brian Lopes, Americans struggle to finish near the podium. The riders seem to be content with this, as NORBA still hands them the same prestigious award that Dunlap and crew earn for being the top rider of the year.
LOOKING TO THE ROAD FOR HELP
Which brings us specifically to the Mens XC. Some Americans actually hope that the invincible Canadian Roland Green starts racing the road full time. We at MBA don't want this to happen. Roland is the brightest, most dominant star the sport has seen since the John Tomac and Ned Overend days. Without Roland, our job is just that much easier, and it's just one more reason for us not to ride at a competitive level.
WHAT FUELED THE TALK
What made this such a hot topic in Wisconsin was that the Giro d'Italia concluded a week prior to the National in Wisconsin. Almost winning the event was Cadel Evans, the two-time World Cup Mountain Bike Champion that switched full time to the road. The 20 stage Giro d'Italia is a three-week race that covers 2100 miles in and around Holland, Germany, France and Italy. Evans earned the coveted maglia rosa -- leader's pink jersey -- at the start of the third week and by finishing in the seven-rider chase group during a difficult, 100-mile day up the snow-covered Dolomites in northern Italy. Unfortunately, the Mapei mountain bike recruit was only able to keep the leader's jersey for 24 hours after bonking during the following day's 140-mile mountain stage. With only four days of racing left, Cadel Evans had no time to make up for the bad finish. After the 88 mile race into Milan, Cadel was awarded with a 14th in the final standings, just 16:25 behind overall winner Paolo Savoldelli of Italy.
FINAL THOUGHT
Don't get us wrong, we totally support Cadel Evans' impressive road results. (He had just finished third overall in the Tour de Romandie a month prior.) Cadel is the first mountain biker to prove that we can hang with the international road hot shots in Europe. But when people use this as a reason to why Roland Green needs to start racing on the road, it's the lowest blow we could deal ourselves as Americans. We need to race up to Roland's level if we are ever going to win our own national events again.
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