I made some pretty wild accusations about highly-ranked Americans in the UCI cyclocross points battle here.  It turns out instead of actually getting lapped, they almost got lapped.

What happened when a bunch of American pros showed up for Kalmthout?

17. Jonathan Page (USA), at 01:45  Planet Bike

38. James Driscoll (USA), Rock Racing at 04:34  ( ~3 minutes back on Jonathan)

50. Troy Wells (USA), at 05:31  (~4 minutes back on Jonathan)

Top-ranked Americans (excluding Mr. Page) are in the lower half of the field and yet were ranked in the 20-something’s on UCI points.  If this was a situation where Driscoll and Wells would swing into a World Cup and finish in the 20-somethings, then they would have earned their mid-20’s points.  But it’s not.  Nowhere near it.  There are no excuses either.  Belgian Hardman Sven Nys passed plenty (20?) of people AND dropped a chain on the same course on his way to a win.

I hope the UCI will adjust their scoring next year because neither one of those Americans are justified in keeping their rankings anywhere near the mid-twenties.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Page has legitimately earned his position.  Go Jonathan!

Full results here.