Keough wins Tour de Lafayette

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The National Criterium Calendar (NCC) continued at the 29th edition of The Staenberg Group Gateway Cup on Friday evening. UnitedHealthcare’s Luke Keough and Coryn Rivera won their respective races.

As the sun began to set, the women’s field set off around the blistering fast four corner course in St. Louis’s iconic, Victorian, Lafayette Park. A solo break halfway through the race was given a scant fifteen seconds for a few cruel laps before the UnitedHealthcare-led field brought the race back together and set up a textbook sprint. As the group rounded the final bend in the darkness, the team’s sprinter Rivera took a commanding win, several lengths clear of Tibco-To the Top’s Samantha Schneider and Colavita-Fine Cooking’s Erica Allar.

Once the men took to the course, it was clear that the field was intent on keeping UnitedHealthcare from dictating affairs. Many attacks were launched through the course of the 60-minute race and the Athlete Octane team of reigning national champion Daniel Holloway was notable in their aggression.

They had a rider in every move and were visible in their attempts to break the race apart. Despite repeated attacks, the field stuck together and UnitedHealthcare organized themselves at the front inside five laps to go.

With the blue and white train driving the pace, rider after rider began falling off the pace and a reduced field headed into the final lap. Rounding the final bend, UnitedHealthcare’s Keough came from a nearly invisible race to take the win well clear of Holloway and teammate Kenneth Hanson.

With its addition to the National Criterium Calendar for 2014 and the finale of the USA Crits series rolled into this year’s edition of the Staenberg Group Gateway Cup, the Tour de Lafayette served as an opening salvo for the riders.

Saturday’s race will see the field head to the St. Louis Hills neighborhood and Francis Park for the next stage.

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