Canadians Seamus McGrath and Kiara Bisaro walked away with stage wins on day two of the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike stage race. But Friday’s time trial didn’t change the names at the top of the overall standings, as American Alison Dunlap and Swiss rider Thomas Frischknecht maintained their GC leads.

The women kicked off racing, taking on the 5-mile TT course under mostly clear skies at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California. The course started next to the finish of the dual slalom track, heading up a slight rise before dumping riders onto the raceway tarmac.

There another short climb awaited, followed by a wide, fast downhill on a open stretch of double track. The biggest obstacle was a spate of waterbars that were an endo waiting to happen. The crux of the course was the closing climb that saw riders ascend 700 feet as they hammered away in the big ring.

“It was a good test, that’s for sure,” said Bisaro (Gearsracing.com), who earned the first major win of her pro mountain biking career. Previously Bisaro’s best result was 2nd place at last year’s NORBA race at Big Bear Lake in Southern California. “I’m actually feeling a lot better this year.”

McGrath was having some fun out there, including jumping waterbars

Photo: Galen Nathanson

Bisaro is among at least three Canadian women vying for two spots on her country’s Olympic team, and this result was strong validation that she belongs in the mix.

“It’s April, so you can’t get too excited,” said Bisaro, who’s battling Chrissy Redden and Marie-Helen Premont to join the already-selected Alison Sydor. “It’s all about the World Cups for us, but this is good for the confidence.”

Bisaro’s winning time of 27:21 was four seconds faster than stage 1 winner Dunlap, which left the Gears rider 16 seconds behind Dunlap in the overall GC. Gretchen Reeves (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects), Shonny Vanlandingham (Luna), and Sarah Noble (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) rounded out the time trial podium and also make up the rest of the top five in the overall standings.

“I’m pretty shocked, to be honest with you,” said Reeves, who works part time as a CPA in Boulder, Colorado. “The last couple weeks have been super stressful. I guess I just let out some of that anxiety here.”

Dunlap (Luna) might have taken her second stage win in a row were it not for a malfunction with her front derailleur about 100 feet from the finish. “It jammed the chain and I couldn’t pedal,” she lamented. “I had to coast into the finish, so who knows what the result is if that doesn’t happen.”

McGrath had no such problems on the way to his win, saying that the best part of the ride was jumping the waterbars early in his run. “I was catching some air and having some fun,” he said. “Got to have some fun out there.”

The Haro-adidas rider also got a smile out of his mark of 23:18, two tenths of a second quicker than Great Britain’s Liam Killeen (Subaru-Gary Fisher). Geoff Kabush (Maxxis), Mathieu Toulouse (Gearsracing.com) and Frischknecht (Swisspower) completed the top five in the men’s time trial.

In the overall standings Frischknecht has a six-second advantage over McGrath, with Kabush at 0:16, Trek-VW’s Roland Green at 0:24 and day one second-place finisher Karl Platt (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) in fifth at 0:33.

Frischknecht is enjoying his first-ever stint in the Otter's leader's jersey

Photo: Galen Nathanson

“I really didn’t come here thinking I could win the overall, but a little success makes things a lot easier,” said Frischknecht, whose best overall Sea Otter finish is a second place. “The is actually the first time I’ve ever even been in the leader’s jersey.”

The mountain bike stage race continues Saturday with the short track, before finishing up with Sunday’s 36-mile cross-country. Meanwhile, the gravity omnium gets underway Saturday with the dual slalom, followed by the downhill and mountain cross on Sunday.

Check back to VeloNews.com all weekend for reports, results and photos.