Van Gilder wins NBX Gran Prix opener

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Mellow Mushroom’s Laura Van Gilder was able to sneak away from Elle Anderson (LadiesFirst Racing) to win Saturday’s UCI C2 event with C3 – Athletes Serving Athletes’Arley Kemmerer finishing in 3rd place.

Van Gilder and Anderson escaped early from a lead group that included Kemmerer, Crystal Anthony (CyclocrossWorld.com), Cassandra Maximenko (Silverbull/Bones/Thule) and Mo Bruno Roy (Bob’s Red Mill p/b Seven Cycles).

Van Gilder and Anderson worked together for the majority of the raceto maintain their gap over the four chasers until Van Gilder opened up a small gap over Anderson on the final lap. Behind the two leaders, Kemmerer put in a strong attack in an effort to connect with the front two, and while she got close, she was never able to bridge the gap.

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“She just sort of started to creep away from me,” said Anderson of Van Gilder, “and I was never able to get back to her.”

Van Gilder maintained her gap over Anderson to take the win by seven seconds, and while she didn’t connect with the leaders, Kemmerer’s attack was good enough to finish 3rd, just five seconds off Anderson. Anthony and Maximenko finished in the 4th and 5thpositions a few seconds behind Kemmerer.

“That finish is very tactical,” said Van Gilder. “I’ve seen 2nd place come around the leader on the pavement, so I wanted to get there on my own.”

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