Lindine continues winning streak in Granogue

Justin Lindine (Bikereg.com-Joe’s Garage) secured a hard-fought victory from a two-man sprint at round two of the UCI C2 Granogue Cross held in Wilmington, Delaware. His sprint rival, Troy Wells (Clif Bar) was forced to settle for second place. Travis Livermon (Smartstop-Mock Orange p/b Ridley) placed third on the day.

“I’m really excited about being able to get double wins and it is a good feeling to be consistent from day-to-day and weekend-to-weekend,” Lindine told Cyclingnews. “I was under a lot of pressure with the way the race unfolded, but it was cool to be forced into a different set of circumstances and have to think about how I was going to win the race without being able to ride away.”

The elite men lined up to race round two of the crown jewel of Mid Atlantic cyclo-cross at Garnogue. The event is held at the Dupont Estate, a private and scenic property that boasts 400 acres of rolling green hills and wooded sections. Riders were treated to some course changes compared to the previous day including a longer climb along the tree line up to the stone watch tower followed by a more technical descent down to the finish straightaway.

Highlighted riders included Lindine and Wells along with Mitch Hoke (Clif Bar Development), brothers Jesse, Luke and Nick Keough (Champion System-Keough Cross), Mark Batty (SpiderTech p/b C10), Mike Carrigan (LaPierre Canada-Giro-Shimano), Adam Myerson (SmartShop-Mock Orange p/b Ridley) and Derek St John (Stevens p/b The Cyclery).

Lindine and Wells got off to a fast start and separated themselves from the rest of the field on the first lap. Livermon and Batty followed the race leaders by roughly 20 seconds for the first half of the race.

“I was kind of winging it for the first half because separated ourselves from the field early,” Lindine said. “But we were both attacking each other on sections of the course that favoured each of us. Livermon and Batty were chasing hard and they weren’t that far behind and that gap opened up a little more later on.”

Mid-race, Lindine suffered an untimely crash in an off camber corner that resulted in a 20-second deficit to Wells. Wells put pressure on the front of the race, however, Lindine was able to drag himself back into contention for the race win during the closing laps.

“I had a bobble and crashed on the downhill turn,” Lindine said. “My chain was off and I had to fix it. It took me a lap and half to get back to him and I was a little bit worked after that. I had to default to plan B because I didn’t have a lot to attack with. I let him lead onto the pavement hoping it would give me a reasonable chance of winning the sprint.”