Island at this year's World B Championships -- because his pro team in the US are rated too highly.

The news has come as a massive blow to national team coach Greg Hopkins, who was planning to take the strongest cycling team ever fielded by Bermuda to the one-day event in Uruguay in November.

The championship would have been Hubbard's one chance to qualify for next year's Olympic Games in Sydney -- now he will be left hoping for a wild card selection from the Bermuda Olympic Association.

Hopkins has appealed for the past three months to cycling's world governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale, to bend their convoluted rules to allow Hubbard to take part, but to no avail.

Riders are ineligible for the World B's -- the championships for countries outside the world's top 30 cycling federations -- if they race for a category one or two team and Hubbard's team Navigators is classed as category two.

If Hubbard, for example, raced for Team Shaklee -- a category three US team which boasts riders who won gold medals at both the Goodwill and Commonwealth Games last year -- he would have been cleared to compete in Uruguay.

Hubbard could also have qualified for the World Championships proper if he had gained enough points from UCI-organised races to earn a UCI ranking in the top 500.

But most of the races in which Navigators compete are not UCI events, so Hubbard did not even have the opportunity to qualify.

Hopkins believed Hubbard had fallen between two stools. "It seems that he's not good enough to go the world championships, but too good to go to the world B's,'' said the coach.

"We were hoping they (the UCI) would look at this as a special case. We're extremely disappointed. I've known Elliot for many years and I believe he's the complete package as a cyclist.

"We've spent a lot of time, effort and money working on the team and we felt we had the potential to send the strongest team we have had together for a major competition.'' Hopkins said Hubbard's reaction to being ruled out had been pragmatic rather than emotional.

"He realises that he's been told he won't be able to go and that's final.

He's disappointed, of course, but he's not wasting any energy protesting against it.'' Hopkins emphasised that the Bermuda Bicycle Association still intended to send a full six-man team, plus some women competitors to contest the one-off road race.

"We will have a team of in-form riders, but we could really have utilised Elliot's abilities,'' he added.

Bermudian cycling fans will get a chance to see Hubbard in action next week when he competes in the four-day Conyers, Dill and Pearman Grand Prix, starting next Thursday evening.

Elliot Hubbard