August 16/98 7:39 am - Sydor and Green are National Champs

Posted by Editor on 08/16/98
 

Sydor and Green Take National Titles

Alison Sydor (Volvo-Cannondale) and Roland Green (Mapei-Kona) are the 1998 Cross-country national Champions. Sydor‚s win was never in doubt, as she led the women‚s race from start to finish, but Green had a hard fought battle with Chris Sheppard (Catera-Pure Energy) to take his title - his second in 3 years.

After the race, Sheppard claimed that he had „a couple of near-death experiences‰ on a circuit that was so dusty it was impossible at times to see where you were going. Sheppard was generous in his praise for Green: „Roland was the stronger climber today, I had hoped to get away earlier on the technical parts, but Roland was too strong.‰ Behind Sheppard, last year‚s winner, Andreas Hestler (Volvo-Cannondale), finished third. Hestler came out of his pedal during the first lap and then crashed, losing 30 seconds and having to chase for the remainder of the race.

In the women‚s race, the story was behind the winner. Chrissy Redden (Ritchey), Canada‚s revelation on the World Cup circuit this season, rode a steady race to nail down second. „I had to set realistic goals coming into the race, when your competition is the World Cup leader. I wanted to ride as good a race as possible, and stay as close to Alison as possible, just in case of a mechanical (by Sydor).‰ Behind Redden, it was the newcomer Amber Chorney, who managed to hold off a late charge by Melanie Dorion (Oryx) to take the third podium spot.

Note: The men‚s results are broken into Elite and Espoir (Under 23), so Seamus McGrath (Haro) and Geoff Kabush (Kona) were actually the third and fourth place men across the finish line overall.

Elite Men

1. Roland Green BC (Mapei-Kona) 2:13:06.87
2. Chris Sheppard BC (Catera-Pure Energy) 2:14:21.82
3. Andreas Hestler BC (Volvo-Cannondale) 2:20:25.94
4. Eric Tourville QC (Oryx) 2:21:20.54
5. Guido Visser QC (Ford-Devinci) 2:24:52.22

Espoir Men

1. Seamus McGrath ON (Haro) 2:17:23.46
2. Geoff Kabush BC (Kona) 2:19:53.81
3. Neil Grover MN(Rocky Mountain Bicycles) 2:22:54.04
4. Mathieu Toulouse QC (Ford-Devinci) 2:24:06.51
5. Martin Nuckle QC (Ford-Devinci) 2:25:38.22

Elite Women

1. Alison Sydor BC (Volvo-Cannondale) 2:05:01.96
2. Chrissy Redden ON (Ritchey) 2:12:15.09
3. Amber Chorney BC (Bean Around the World) 2:14:15.65
4. Melanie Dorion QC (Oryx) 2:15:45.97
5. Lesley Tomlinson BC (Polo Sport) 2:16:54.79