but at the same time Elliott Hubbard can find a silver lining from what he calls the darkest day of his cycling career.

The Monaco Grand Prix -- which had been scheduled for last weekend -- and the race that the Bermuda cyclist had deemed as his most important so far, was abruptly cancelled at the last minute when only 20 racers showed up for the event.

It was a race Hubbard had been working towards for several months, indeed since the season first began last February.

"I thought, Jesus, what are they doing to me,'' recalled Hubbard from his tiny apartment in Monaco yesterday. "It was like they were stealing something away from me. I was just so disappointed that I didn't have a chance to show everybody what I had prepared so hard for. I had geared everything for this, the end of the season.'' Out of Hubbard's brutal disappointment, however, may come his biggest opportunity. The optimistic cyclist is currently mulling over at least three offers to jump from his current team, the Union Cycliste du Monaco, and will decide shortly which offer -- two from France and one from Italy -- to accept.

The move will not represent a step up in class -- the offers are also from semi-pro, first category teams -- but a chance to show off his burgeoning skills to people who are in a position to smooth his path to reaching other dreams, most notably the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

"I know whatever team I go to, these people have lots of connections,'' said Hubbard. "Everything will sort of snowball. If I ride well, the rest will follow.'' But before he makes his decision, Hubbard -- who turns 20 on Sunday -- will compete in a season-ending event on October 2 in the Vars region of France.

The race, named in honour of former Tour de France winner Lucien Aimar, will stretch along 160 kilometres, easily making it one of the most gruelling races of the year.

After that Hubbard will depart for Newcastle, England, for a two-week holiday with his sister, where he also hopes to participate in a few races.

Hubbard's first full season as a member of a semi-pro outfit has been marked by slow but steady progress and was capped by his first victory in July at the Ospedetali Criterium in Bordigeira, Italy.

But it was the Tour de Monaco that he considered as the jewel of the racing season, one that ended tarnished and shrouded in mystery.

The race was supposed to have consisted of a 130-kilometre road race on September 11, followed by two hill-climbing events on September 14. The final event was to have been a small circuit criterium on September 15 -- a series of five-lap "sprints''.

When Hubbard arrived at the scene on Saturday he was greeted by a small group of stunned cyclists who had just been told the event was being shelved, despite perfect weather conditions.

"After the disappointment I had, returning next season to my team in Monaco would be a last resort,'' said Hubbard. "I got the impression they (organisers) were hiding something. Ever since I was 14, I have never been at a race where 120 people were signed up and only 20 people showed up. I called friends on some of the other teams and they just didn't know what to say, their coaches just told them to forget about participating.

"We needed at least 30 or 40 racers to get permission to close off the street. I went to race organisers and I got the impression I shouldn't be asking any questions. So I decided to leave it alone. But I got the impression there was a lot more to it.'' ELLIOTT HUBBARD -- More to sudden cancellation that meets the eye.