Keough claims close win over McNicholas

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Luke Keough (Champion System-Keough Cyclocross) nabbed a sprint victory at the UCI C2 Cycle Smart International held at Look Park in Northampton, Massachusetts. He out-paced his two all-race breakaway companions Dylan McNicholas (Cyclocrossworld.com) in second and Lukas Winterberg (Philadelphia Cyclocross School) in third.

“It was nice to repeat,” Keough said. “It was a fast race but groups were selected right away, the three of us got away and we ended up in a sprint. For me, it was best to wait for the sprint. I took it from the last rider and won.”

The event marked round five of the Shimano New England Professional Cyclo-cross Series that is currently led by Justin Lindine (BikeReg.com/Joe’s Garage). Lindine has dominated the New England and Mid-Atlantic cyclo-cross scenes this season. However, an untimely crash at the beginning of the race took him out of contention for the win.

Look Park’s terrain offered a perfect combination of hills, wooded single track and open grass sections. Some of the main features of the course included two steep run-ups, dual descents, a set of hurdles and rail road tracks.

“We used a steep run up in the woods and it was a great course, fast and dry which was perfect,” Keough said. “I was surprised there was not more snow, it dried up and was sunny all day.”

It was reported that Lindine slid out at the start and was forced to do much of the chasing but could not recover the time he lost to the race leaders. Keough, McNicholas and Winterberg separated themselves from the rest of the field early in the race and put forth a tactical battle to the finish line.

“I didn’t need to push it or attack during the race or anything,” Keough said. “I was confident sitting there and waiting for a sprint. The other two tried to attack me and they didn’t want it to come down to a sprint. I just tried to cover each one of them.”

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