Keough claims Chris Thater Memorial criterium

The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling squad continued their dominance of the USA Crits series with Luke Keough taking the sprint win. His teammate Carlos Alzate was second and Rafael A. Meran (Foundation NYC) in third.

"The course was more suited for a sprint this year and you saw the team ride perfect," said Keough.

The Chris Thater Memorial criterium located in Binghamton, New York is the penultimate race in the 2013 USA Crits series. The pro men would do 61 laps on the 1.3 kilometer course for a total of 50 miles.

The numerous USA Crits series point primes kept the field strung out. However, even with the points and cash primes offered, no one could slip away during the beginning laps of the race.

With 45 laps remaining David Hoyle (Aetna Cycling Team p/b The CCAP) went solo and picked up USA Crits points for his troubles. However after two laps he was caught by the single file lead peloton.

Ben Wolfe (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) was the next to attack to snag the fifty dollar prime. He held off the chasing pack, taking the prime, but was absorbed just after the finish line.

The pack sat up and the field spread out across the street, but the ringing of the prime bell on lap 38 for fifty dollars energized the riders once again. David Guttenplan (AG Bicycles/Guttenplan Coaching) sprinted out of the bunch to take the cash.

At the mid-way point of the race a cash and USA Crits series points were offered and Hoyle took another prime.

With 27 laps remaining the first serious break of the day rolled away. Eleven riders broke free with three from UnitedHealthcare in that escape group. Several other riders jumped across to join. However, the riders weren't working together to make it stick.

The break, as expected, was caught with 20 laps to go, but that set off a counter-attack. This forced the peloton to get back on the gas.

With 16 laps to go three riders gapped the field: Michael Chauner (Garneau-Quebecor), GeronWilliams (Foundation NYC), and Patrick Kos (D3 Devo). Several riders made the junction to the break. Included in that breakaway were two riders from UnitedHealthcare: Brad White and Adrian Hegyvary. Missing from the break was the SmartStop-Mountain Khakis squad.

Adam Myerson (SmartStop-Mountain Khakis) went to the front to try and bring it back, but with 9 laps remaining the breakaway was working together smoothly.

This move did not sit well with the UnitedHealthcare squad, as their sprinter Keough was missing from the breakaway. Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) took over the front of the chase catching the break with 7 laps remaining.

Luke Keough, UnitedHealthcare's sprinter entered the wheel pit on the seventh lap, one lap prior to it closing on the sixth lap.

With 5 laps to go the UnitedHealthcare squad started to form their lead out train and importantly their star sprinter Keough was out of the wheel pit and on the course.

On the final lap the speed by the blue train squad tore the peloton apart. Around the final corner Keough launched from his teammate Carlos Alzate back wheel to take the win. Alzate held on for second and Rafael A. Meran (Foundation NYC) finished in third.

Keough explained the last meters of the race.

"We were going full-gas and he (Alzate) had to sit down as he had nothing left. I took it from there."

"It's huge to keep it rolling like this," continued the UnitedHealthcare sprinter. "This is win number 30 for us – it's been a great year."

Full Results