Americans Alison Dunlap and Jeremiah Bishop grabbed a pair of dramatic cross-country wins on the final day of racing at the opening stop of the NORBA National Mountain Bike Series in Waco, Texas on Sunday. In the final GC it was the day’s second-place finishers, Alison Sydor and Geoff Kabush, taking the overall titles.

In the women’s race it didn’t take long for it to become a two-rider affair. After a quick start loop to shake things out for the run into the tight twisting singletrack of Cameron Park, Sydor and Dunlap quickly gapped the rest of the field, and carried a two-minute advantage into the second and final lap of the race.

“It seemed like we never saw them,” said Willow Koerber, who wound up fourth on the day and in the overall. “They were gone.”

Back at the front it was Dunlap doing the lion’s share of the work, as the pair slowly edged up their advantage. At the finish it was Dunlap taking a lightly contested sprint.

“I knew I just needed to be second today,” said Sydor (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), who entered the final stage of the three-stage race with a 10-second advantage on countrywoman Kiara Bisaro in the overall standings. Dunlap was another five seconds back. “My goal was just protect the GC. [Dunlap] deserved the win,” added Sydor.

Next across the line in the cross-country was Dunlap’s Luna teammate Katerina Hanusova, who was third in the final standings as well. Koerber (RLX Ralph Lauren) and Trek-Volkswagen’s Sue Haywood completed the cross-country podium, as well as the overall.

“I had everything to gain today,” said Dunlap, who was keenly aware that while the overall NORBA standings will based on the final GC in Waco, the ever-important UCI E1 points on the line were based solely on the cross-country results. “I went into the singletrack first and [Sydor] was the only one who stayed with me.”

In the men’s race, the win for Bishop was a historical one, bringing an end to the 14-race winning streak compiled by Canadians Roland Green and Ryder Hesjedal. Prior to Sunday the last American man to win a NORBA cross-country race was Kirk Molday at the 2001 season opener in Big Bear Lake, California.

“I just wanted to give myself a chance to win today,” said Bishop (Trek-Volkswagen), who pulled ahead of Kabush in the late stages of the final lap, crossing the line two bike lengths ahead of the Canadian.

Bishop

Miraculously Bishop rode the final minutes of the race with a punctured front tire that was all but flat by the time he crossed the line.

“I blasted a rock right at the bottom of the last downhill and I could hear it leaking,” Bishop recalled. “But it was coming out pretty slow. I was just thinking high cadence, high cadence.”

After the pair crossed the finish, the clock watching began. Entering the day Seamus McGrath (Haro) sat first in the GC with Hesjedal (Subaru-Gary Fisher) just two seconds back. But when 44 seconds elapsed, the overall belonged to Kabush, who had entered the day with that deficit.

American Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (RLX Ralph Lauren) was next across the line in third, at 0:49, with Hesjedal, at 1:19, in fourth, and 18-year-old Canadian Max Plaxton (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) in fifth at 1:24.

Hesjedal had actually been at the front with Bishop when the American made his move out of the initial selection that numbered 10 riders. But the 2003 silver medalist in the world cross-country championships crashed hard soon after, flipping over his bars and breaking his helmet.

“I actually went down twice,” Hesjedal said. “The first time I was able to chase back on, but on the second one I was pretty rattled.”

Meanwhile stage 2 leader McGrath had an admittedly off day, winding up 10th in the cross-country and sixth overall.

“I just didn’t have it today,” he said. The final men’s overall standings had Kabush first, followed by Hesjedal, Bishop, Horgan-Kobelski and Plaxton, who had to be considered one of the big revelations of the weekend.

The NORBA series now gives way to next weekend’s NOVA Desert Classic in Arizona and mid-April’s Sea Otter Classic before reconvening for stop No. 2 May 15-16 in Sonoma, California.