Corinth’s Craig seventh in final race, standings

FORT WILLIAM, Scotland – Adam Craig of Corinth capped off his International Cycling Union World Cup cross country mountain biking season Sunday with a seventh-place finish in the final race of year’s eight-event tour.

Craig, a 24-year-old rider for Giant Bicycles, completed the race in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 11 seconds, 2:35 behind winner Ralph Naef of Switzerland.

The finish was Craig’s fourth top-10 result of the season, and enabled him to place seventh overall in the final World Cup elite men’s cross country point standings, ranking him as one of the top mountain bikers in the world.

Craig also was the top American in the Fort William race as well in the final World Cup standings.

Christoph Sauser of Switzerland, who finished second Sunday, won the World Cup individual point title by a comfortable margin over second-place Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos of Spain. Julien Absalon of France, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in men’s cross country mountain biking, finished third in the standings.

Craig will return to the United States this week for his final major event of the year, the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships Sept. 15-18 at Mammoth Mountain, Calif.