Jeremiah Bishop tied with Plaxton atop men's standings while Georgia Gould remains the women's Pro XCT leader

After two races, there is a deadlock atop the USA Cycling's Professional Mountain Bike Cross Country Tour Men's (Pro XCT) standings as Jeremiah Bishop (Harrisonburg, Va./Cannondale) and Max Plaxton (Specialized) each have 380 points. Todd Wells (Durango, Colo./Specialized) is just 40 points behind in third place.

Plaxton earned the win at the Fontana City National/Pro XCT event in Fontana, Calif., on Saturday, March 26. Bishop placed second and Sam Schultz (Missoula, Mont./Subaru-Trek) finished third ahead of Wells and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Boulder, Colo./Subaru-Trek) in fourth and fifth, respectively.

"I’m just trying to find my pacing” said Plaxton. “Other years I’ve gone out hard and faded the last couple laps. Now I’m trying to make my last couple of laps strong. Today I just punched it near the top of the climb on the third lap.”

On the women's side Georgia Gould (Fort Collins, Colo./Luna Pro) and Lea Davison (Jericho, Vt./Specialized Factory), who is returning from a hip injury, placed second and third in Fontana behind winner Catharine Pendrel (Luna Pro Team).

Pendrel rode with Gould for a lap before pulling away from the pack on the long, arduous climb.

"The course was in awesome condition. They had some rain. The first it's nice to know you have legs. It's okay to feel good in training, but it's nice to test it out," Pendrel said.

In the Women's Pro XCT standings, Gould leads Davison by 20 points after two races. Emily Batty (Subaru-Trek), Chloe Forsman (BMC MTB Development Team/Tucson, Ariz.) and Krista Park (Cannondale-NoTubes/Madison, S.D.) round out the top five.

Complete results from the Fontana City National/Pro XCT can be found here.

Stephen Ettinger (Cashmere, Wash./BMC MTB Development Team) is the top Men's U23 rider in the overall standings as his 190 points place tenth after finishing 12th in Fontana. On the women's side, Lydia Tanner (Bozeman, Mont.) is the top U23 rider with 160 points in 12th place after riding to a 16th-place result on Saturday.

Specialized USA Factory Racing climbed out of a tie for fifth to take a 10-point lead over last week's leader, Subaru-Trek, in USA Cycling's 2011 Pro XCT team standings. Luna Pro moved up one spot to third ahead of BMC MTB Development Team, which fell from second to fourth.

The next event on the Pro XCT is the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif., on April 16.

PRO XCT standings

PRO GRT set to get underway in April

The first USA Cycling Pro Gravity Mountain Bike Tour (Pro GRT) event will be next month. The series kicks off April 9-10 with the NW Cup in Port Angeles, Wash.

Manny Prado, Pua Mata lead Pro UET after race 1

USA Cycling's Professional Mountain Bike Ultra-Endurance Tour (Pro UET) is on hiatus until Colorado's Firecracker 50 on July 4 in Breckenridge. Manny Prado (Huntington Beach, Calif./Team Sho-Air) and Pua Mata (Huntington Beach, Calif./Team Sho-Air) will be the Pro UET leaders heading into that race.

PHOTOS:

A group chased the two leaders Jeremiah Bishop and Max Plaxton, but did not catch them at Fontana.

Catharine Pendrel pulled away from the field on the long climb to a victory at Fontana. (Photos by Dave McElwaine)

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