Luke Keough repeats sprint win over McNicholas

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Luke Keough (Champion System-Keough Cylcocross) secured his second consecutive sprint victory of the weekend at Cycle Smart International Day 2 held at Look Park in Northampton, Massachusetts. Dylan McNicholas (Cyclocrossworld.com) placed second in the sprint ahead of Jerome Townsend (SmartStop-MOB-Ridley) in third and Justin Lindine (BikeRed.com-Joe’s Garage)in fourth.

“I had a couple of bobbles early and the race started slower with a bigger group,” Keough told Cyclingnews. “There was some attacking but I stayed patient and played it safe. It came down to a sprint and I had the legs today. Last year I won both days, so it was nice to repeat here and get some results.”

The event marked round six of the Shimano New England Professional Cyclo-cross series. Keough’s double wins moved him into the overall series lead by two points ahead of the previous leader Lindine. The final rounds will take place at the NBX GP1 and GP2 held from December 3-4 in Warwick, Rhode Island.

“It’s exciting and I will be at the last event,” Keough said. “It’s been a good series so far and I would definitely like to cap it off with the overall win.”

“Luke took control of both the Under 23 and Elite series today,” Lindine told Cyclingnews. “I got sixth and fourth this weekend, so his total points ended up being more than mine after this weekend. I plan on going to the last races. It will be tough because Luke is a very good defensive rider and he knows what he has to do to be able to win the series. That puts more pressure than I wanted, but I will still try.”

A strong line up at the Cycle Smart International included Lindine along with Keough, McNicholas, Townsend and Lukas Winterberg (Philadelphia Cyclocross School). Also on the line was event promoter Adam Myerson (SmartStop-MOB-Ridley), Jeremy Durrin (JAM Fund-NCC), Jared Nieters (Haymarket-Seavs Racing) and Josh Dillon (RGM Watches-Richard Sachs).

Race organizers revised the course slightly compared to the previous day with a double sand pit and one less run up. A lead group of top riders formed early in the race that included Lindine, McNicholas, Townsend, Winterberg, Keough and Myerson. Keough, notorious for a strong sprint, made a tactical decision not to work with the group and save his speed for the finish line.

“The race was much different today and I had a better race,” said Lindine who crashed and placed sixth yesterday. “I was able to be more of a factor today. Unfortunately sprinting is not my strong suit. I tried a million times to get away before the last lap. As a result of a lot of attacking it ended up being four of us in the final sprint.”

“Luke was not trying to get away because he can count on being able to win pretty much any sprint,” he said. “McNicholas and I were doing most of the attacking. It was a tactical finish because it was a short piece of pavement for the sprint, so the race for the pavement was in a technical section before the pavement. There was a lot of bumping and fighting for the last couple of corners.”

Myerson and Winterberg fell off pace during the closing laps resulting in a lead group of four riders heading to the finish line in a sprint for the top three places, won by Keough.