Sea Otter Classic Mountain Bike Race, Mountain Biking, MountainZone.com, 2002

The Sea Otter's four-part cross country stage race wrapped up in high-speed form Sunday afternoon. Alison Dunlap (USA, Luna Chix) maintained her General Classification (GC) lead to win the overall title, while Caroline Alexander (GBR, GBR Nat'l Team) won the stage.

Roland Green (CAN, Trek-Volkswagen) passed last year's winner Bart Brentjens (NED, Giant Bicycle) on the men's side to take both the men's GC and the stage win.

With the crowds at their largest and racing taking place on all corners of the venue (see related downhill stories), Sunday shaped up as the big day at Laguna Seca amidst cool temperatures and gusting winds. But alas the sun came out, making for good conditions and a great competition.

The cross-country riders took off at 1:30 p.m., contesting two long laps on the XC course for a total of 36 miles. The men went first and by the end of the first lap had given up five lead riders, all of whom were vying for the GC title.

Roland Green rode up front, along with points-leader Bart Brentjens. Filip Meirhaeghe (BEL, Specialized), Ryder Hesjedal (CAN, Subaru Gary Fisher) and Seamus McGrath (CAN, Haro/Lee Dungarees) were also there, as the five motored 37 seconds ahead of Chris Sheppard (CAN, Haro/Lee Dungarees) who sat in 6th position.

Green was sitting second overall in the GC, coming into this fourth stage, just seven seconds behind Brentjens. In the second lap the group began to break apart, first when McGrath flatted his rear tire and was forced out. Soon thereafter, on the far reaches of the course, Hesjedal and Meirhaeghe lost contact with the front on a hike-a-bike section. This left just the top two riders in Green and Brentjens to dice it out to the finish.

Sea Otter's XC course finishes with a long fire road climb to the final paved track section. Green attacked here on the final lap with Brentjens simply unable to respond. When Green realized this, he put the hammer down and crossed the finish line in two hours, 12 minutes, 45 seconds ahead of Brentjens to capture the stage and the overall GC title.

After Sir Bart finished, Meirhaeghe and Hesjedal approached the finish side-by-side, stood up and sprinted. Meirhaeghe won that mini-battle and took 3rd place for the day, while Ryder rode across in 4th.

Women's racing saw another close battle between the Alisons for the GC, as Alison Dunlap (USA, Luna Chix) looked to maintain her 26-second lead over Alison Sydor (CAN, Trek-Volkswagen). All she had to do to achieve this was maintain contact with the lead group and not lose any time to them. So she sat back, sat in and held on, letting the leaders do all the work.

And it worked. After the first lap Dunlap was riding with former teammates Caroline Alexander (GBR, GBR Nat'l Team) and Barbara Blatter (SUI, Specialized), while 40 seconds back were Sydor and Chrissy Redden (CAN, Subaru-Gary Fisher). The trio up front worked together to increase time on the field, then approached the finish in good position. Blatter faded on the final climb, and Alexander attacked in order to improve her overall position.

Dunlap very well might have been able to out-sprint Alexander to the finish and take the stage win but, with the title in hand, sat on Caroline's wheel as the Brit won the stage, followed by Blatter in 3rd. Dunlap got what she wanted and won the overall.

Interestingly, this is just the opposite of how last year's race ended, where Alexander won the GC and Dunlap the stage in 2001. This year provided a trading of places, as Dunlap dominated the entire weekend.

— Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Correspondent