Craig in line for Olympic berth after finishing 16th

FORT WILLIAM, Scotland – Exeter native Adam Craig finished 16th in an International Cycling Union World Cup mountain bike race for the second straight week Saturday.

But the finish may have been good enough to secure him a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team.

Racing on a dry, dusty course at Fort William Park, Craig finished second among Americans in the race to 2004 Olympian Todd Wells, who placed 13th overall among the more than 100 riders from around the world.

Craig raced in the lead pack for the first two laps of the grueling two-hour event, but then fell while maneuvering around a sharp corner and settled into the mid-teens.

Overall, Wells is 11th in the World Cup standings with 430 points, while Craig is next among Americans and 16th overall with 378 points.

Two U.S. riders will qualify for the Olympics, and currently third among Americans in the World Cup points is 2004 Olympian Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, who is well back in the standings at 45th overall with 128 points after sustaining a flat rear tire while riding with Craig midway through Saturday’s race that relegated him to an 80th-place finish.

According to USA Cycling, there are at least three ways Craig or any other eligible American rider can make the Olympic team – finish among the top three overall at the world championships; finish among the top three overall at one of the five World Cup races held in advance of the world championships; or rank as the top American with the best three cumulative World Cup finishes prior to June 23.

If no Americans meet those qualifications, athletes will be named to the team via coaches’ selections.

Wells ranks as the top American in World Cup points and finishes, no American earned a top-three finish in any of the five World Cup races preceding the world championships, which are scheduled for Val di Sole, Italy, in two weeks.

Craig’s second-place effort among Americans on the World Cup circuit through five races should leave him in strong position to earn a coaches’ selection to the second spot on the U.S. Olmpic team later this month, unless another American finishes among the top three overall at the world championships, which is considered unlikely.

Craig, who now resides in Bend, Ore., received the only automatic nomination to the U.S. men’s team for the world championships as a top-15 ranked American male in the UCI rankings when those nominations were announced.

He will be joined in Italy by Wells, Horgan-Kobelski, Jeremiah Bishop, Michael Broderick and Sam Schultz, who all received discretionary nominations.

Florian Vogel led a Swiss sweep of the top three places at Fort William, finishing in a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 27 seconds. He was followed by countrymen Nino Schurter and Christoph Sauser.

Wells finished 2:50 out of first place, while Craig was 3:36 behind.