It doesn't look like Brian Lopes will have to wait until Olympic Sprint Champion Marty Nothstein finally takes him up on the challenge to a sprint-off. That's because the U.S. Olympic team just asked Brian to join up. It's soon possible that we'll see Lopes take on the Olympian, and he's going to do it on Nothstein's own turf.
Lopes has only been riding track for a month, and had absolutely no fixed-gear experience when he tried out for the team in San Diego. In typical Lopes fashion, the first time he tried track -- on a borrowed bike to boot -- he ended up besting the times of all the other potential Olympians on hand.
"He's very fast," said Des Dickie, national track coach. "I think he could be world class." The tryout resulted in Lopes landing a spot as the lead-off man for the U.S. Olympic sprint team at the first World Cup, held this weekend in Monterrey, Mexico. Continued Dickie, "Even without experience, he did remarkably well. We have other people training for the starter's spot; he's the best we've got."
HOW THE OLYMPIC SPRINT WORKS
Lopes will be racing on a 333 meter outdoor track called Velodromo Nuevo Leon. The Olympic sprint is a team effort. The team riders start together, then one drops off at the finish of each lap. (It's one of those events that makes little sense until you see it on TV.) Brain will be teamed up with Giddeon Massie and Jeff LaBauve. Since Brian is the starter, he leads the first lap and is the first to drop off.
The world dual champion even warned Nothstien about his intentions. Says Lopes, "I called him up the other day and told him he better start training in the dirt, because I'm riding track now." Marty will find out on Sunday how real of a deal Lopes is.
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