While reigning World Champions Roland Green (Trek / VW) and Alison Dunlap (Luna Chix / Santa Cruz) showed they were ready to defend their titles against all comers by taking overall honours thiw weekend, British riders had an excellent weekend.

Caroline Alexander (British national squad) showed her typically great early season form by taking a clear win in the time trial and fourth place in the short circuit race. Dunlap was still ahead on overall points though after winning the opening criterium, and though Alexander pulled well clear of the rest of the field in the final long circuit cross country event, she couldn’t shake the World Champ off her wheel. We’ll try and get one of our regular diary updates from Caroline when she gets back to her home in the Lake District, but hopefully she’ll be pleased with this cracking start to the season.

Meanwhile Liam Killeen (Gary Fisher / Subaru) continues his climb up the senior rankings with a tenth place in the weekend’s final long circuit XC race. For full Sea Otter race reports check out www.velonews.com

Meanwhile back on the road, Nicole Cooke unfortunately failed to live up to her threatened domination of the La Primavera Rosa classic race in Italy. She eventually placed 20th after a race laced with multiple crashes. For a full race report check out www.cyclingnews.com