Northern California's Steve Larsen decimated the 2000 NORBA XC Championships. He willed it to happen after learning of U.S.A. Cycling's decision not to include him on the Olympic MTB team. From that point on Larsen rode with a point to prove.
LARSEN THE NO-SHOW
The Olympic decision hurt Steve. Mountain biking no longer seemed that important. Even before he had the chance to defend the title in 2001, the transition began. He entered the Wildflower half-Ironman in California just to see how he would do. Steve placed fourth.
Larsen then went on to win the Lake Placid, New York Triathlon by 12 minutes. Then he set his sights on the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Against the best triathletes in the world -- and struggling with still developing swimming skills, Steve earned ninth.
Then he disappeared.
LARSEN WOW'S THEM AT SOLANO
Now the bike shop owner from Davis, California is back in the news. In a big way. The first big west coast road race of the year is the Solano Bicycle Classic; which just happens to be in Larsen's back yard. The race was won by two-time winner Chris Horner riding for Saturn. At 4:17 back, Steve Larsen finished an impressive fourth in the general classification division. His team, Webcor Cycling, placed fifth in the team classification. Larsen was also the third top sprint points earner.
SAUSER AND KILLEEN TOO
Riding for Team Britain, Switzerland's Siemens Mobile-Cannondale rider Christophe Sauser and Subaru-Gary Fisher's Liam Killeen -- who's actually British -- respectively placed seventh at 4:24 and eight at 4:37.
The two solid finishes powered Team Great Britain to third in the team standings.
MOUNTAIN BIKERS RACE-BY-RACE
The four stage Solano Bicycle Classic kicked off with a mostly hilly, 87 mile road race. For Stage 2 racers faced the infamous Mix Canyon Hill Climb -- 7.7 miles long with an average 12-percent grade; the last mile tilting to the heavens with a 22-percent ramp. The Downtown Fairfield Crit marked day three and 13 laps around a six mile circuit culminated the event.
Here's how the MTB stars placed race by race:
ROAD RACE: Larsen, Killeen and Sauser all finished at 1:46 and in the main chase group; respectively fifth, seventh and ninth. Sauser also earned two King of the Mountain points for being the fourth man to top the third designated KOM spot.
HILLCLIMB: Of our three targeted riders, the current MTBers ruled here. Sauser was seventh at 1:13, Killeen 11th at 1:26, and Larsen 18th at 2:01. Sauser and Killeen were fourth and fifth at KOM3.
CRITERIUM: A lead group finish earned Larsen a ninth. Killeen and Sauser respectively placed 41st and 82nd in the main pack. Larsen was second man through the fifth designated sprint.
CIRCUIT: In the giant group finish Killeen earned 19th, Larsen 36th, and Sauser 77th.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS
Right this moment the Redlands Bicycle Classic is going on, and Steve was beating Roland Green until he DNF'd the road race. We'd like to see Larsen back racing mountain bikes. If nothing else, he certainly can wear a lot of hats.
There are still three more stages -- two road races and a crit -- left on the Redland's schedule. So far the Canadians are the top MTBers with Roland Green currently in fourth and Alison Sydor in ninth. Stay tuned for more on the large contingent of off-roaders that are using Redlands to race into peak form.
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