Mountain biker Adam Craig of Corinth and Bend, Ore., will kick off his 2007 racing season next week as one of 15 riders representing the United States at the Continental Championships to be held March 6-12 at Neuquen, Argentina.

That event will play a crucial role in determining how many starting positions the U.S. team will receive at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Craig, along with Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Jeremiah Bishop, and Todd Wells, earned automatic qualifying spots for the event by virtue of their world rankings at the end of 2006.

Craig, who rides for the Giant Bicycles team, was ranked 17th worldwide in the final 2006 International Cycling Union (UCI) elite men’s cross country standings, second-best among American riders behind Horgan-Kobelski (11th). Bishop (22nd) and Wells (55th) also earned spots by virtue of their rankings, while Michael Broderick, Sam Schultz, Sam Jurekovic, and Colin Cares round out the men’s team.

The women’s team is led by defending race champion Mary McConneloug and includes fellow automatic qualifiers Heather Irmiger, Willow Koerber, and Shonny Vanlandingham, along with Chloe Foresman, Melanie Myers, and Georgia Gould.