Alison Sydor is Canada's most successful female cyclist and one of its toughest athletes.

 Her road racing career hit a high point in 1991 when she won the prestigious Tour de l'Aude and was third in the women's road race the world championships. It was also in 1991, that Sydor branched out into the more lucrative world of mountain biking which was gaining popularity in North America and Europe. Her transition to the sport, which focuses more on the individual rather than team play, was suprisingly smooth. She won her first mountain bike cross country World Cup event in Switzerland that year and was fifth at the world championships.

 She is now a three-time mountain bike world champion and last season notched her third career World Cup title with two victories, two silver and three bronze medals in eight races.

 Sydor, 34, earns every penny of her six figure income as a professional rider for her Volvo Cannondale racing team. Last season at a World Cup in Canmore, Alta., she collapsed at the finish line with her foot still in the pedal stirrup from exhaustion and hypothermia. She still placed third. Earlier in the year she crossed the finish line on a flat tire for a silver medal. In 1998, in one race she carried her broken bike to the finish. Despite all her success in mountain biking, Sydor has not abandoned road racing. She'll vie for an Olympic spot in that event as well this year at trials.

2000 Games
Sept. 23: Women's mountain bike: Alison Sydor, Vancouver, finished fifth in final.

Photos
Canada's Alison Sydor in action
Sydor in the pack at the start


2000 Games Cycling Coverage
2000 Games Alison Sydor Section