Craig 13th in Cup race

CANBERRA, Australia – Exeter native Adam Craig earned a 13th-place finish Sunday in the eighth stop of the International Cycling Union World Cup cross country mountain bike series.

Ralph Naef of Switzerland, who was passed up for a berth on that nation’s Olympic team, won the first World Cup event since the Beijing Games with a time of 1 hour, 45 minutes, 28 seconds. Jose Antonio Hermida of Spain was second, 16 seconds behind Naef on the course that will host the 2009 world championships.

Todd Wells, who along with Craig made up this year’s U.S. Olympic men’s mountain biking team, was the top American in the race in fifth, 1:46 behind Naef.

Craig, riding for the Giant Mountain Bike Team, trailed the winner by 6:26. Craig is sixth and Wells ninth in the 2008 World Cup point standings.