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Road To 2012
UCI Mountain Bike World Cup XCO
Round 2 Dalby Forest, UK

Posted May 22 2011
Words And Photography By Luke Webber

Homepage: Road To 2012 | British Cycling's Performance Programs Explained
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Mountain Biking: Olympic Qualification Explained | UCI National Rankings

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Round 1 Results:
Elite Men | Elite Women | Under-23 Men | Under 23 Women | Junior Men | Junior Women

Pro Sprint Eliminator Results:
Men | Women

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE 2011 DALBY WORLD CUP

British Cycling's mountain bike performance programme returned to competition with round 2 of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup on home soil.

The race that marked the end of the first year in which to collect Olympic Qualification Points, also produced what British Cycling's Olympic Mountain Bike Coach, Phil Dixon described as the team's best performance under his command.

Highlights included a haul of UCI points - of which 141 count toward Olympic qualification for men and 135 for women, led by Annie Last scoring a personal-best result of 14th in the Elite women's race.

Replicating her achievement of 2010, when the World Cup first came to Dalby Forest, Last wowed the crowd and improved her career-best World Cup placing of 19th, with a 14th, after riding much of the race toward the top ten.

This result followed Last's second place in Friday's Pro Sprint Eliminator competition.

Dave Fletcher also recoreded a personal best, with sixth in the under-23 men's race. Riding the start loop in first position, Fletcher dropped back, before recording the fastest final lap of the race, finishing under a minute from the win.

In the same race Steve James finished his first under-23 World Cup in 34th, after starting 60th. Kenta Gallagher looked ready for a similar result, before his race ended prematurely following a collision with another rider on course.

Other standout performances came from Grant Ferguson; fifth Junior, Beth Crumpton and Katy Winton; fourth and fifth in the Junior Women's racerespectively and Lily Matthews; 15th under-23 woman.

Liam Killeen continued his season with a 30th position - his aim for a top ten in front of a home crowd not coming to fruition this time.

Full reports and images from all the racing at Dalby are available on the event homepage.