Keough fastest sprinter in Charlotte

Jake Keough (UnitedHealthcare) benefited from a perfect team lead-out to take the victory at the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium on Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina. He took a run to the line in the bunch sprint and out-paced Australian Criterium Champion Jonathan Cantwell (V Australia) in second and Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) in third.

“It was our race to lose from the start,” Keough said. “We raced smart all night and it was really hard and we didn’t control it until those last few laps when we did our lead-out. Everyone was attacking, it was stop and go and everyone was attacking. It was a hard race to win and I think we earned the win.”

Cantwell protested the sprint with race officials following the final sprint. Several riders alleged that Keough abruptly switched lines in the finishing straight. Officials ruled in favour of Keough saying that they did not see the incident. Cantwell declined to comment.

“Cantwell is a classy rider, Australian National Criterium Champion, and when he lines up, nine times out of ten he is the one we are looking at to be the big competition,” Keough said. “I have full respect for him. I don’t know what happened, we sprint from the front. The team rode the front for the last seven laps and we worked really hard for it.”

Cantwell lined up under sweltering heat to defend his title in the Pro-Cat 1 men’s race for a whopping $50,000. Three rows of riders including Elite, Amateurs and Professionals were called to the start line. Notable sprinters included Luca Damiani (Kenda/5-hour Energy), Menzies (UnitedHealthcare), Frank Pipp and Kyle Wamsley (Bissell), Mark Hekman (Clevland Clinic Sports Health), Christian Helmig (Elbowz Racing) and Emile Abraham (AeroCat-Cycling) and USA CRITS overall series leader Luke Keough (MountainKhakis p/b Smart Shop), among others.

“I think the whole race was a little more quiet than usual because of the heat, the air was really heavy,” Borrajo said. “It was an easier race because there weren’t a lot of attacks. It was still a hard pace, but the humidity made it a strange race.”

The dumbbell-shaped race course offered the fans a chance to see the riders twice through the finish area and a four-corner circuit on each end. The Pro-Cat 1 men raced for 80 kms. Race organizers kick-started the race with a $1000 prime won by Cantwell.

Heath Blackgrove (Elbowz Racing) went on a solo move in the first few laps of the race and he was followed by chaser Jose Navarro (GM Bikes). Bissell and UnitedHealthcare seemed interested in keeping the field together during the early parts of the race. John Loehner (Stan’s No Tubes-AXA Equitable-CRCA) picked up several race primes during his solo efforts.

“The primes were an incentive tonight,” said Blackgrove, who made nearly $2000 in primes on the day. “But I think breakaways would go and then a prime would just happen. I was going to try and break up the race, try and get a breakaway going and try and win the race.”

Kenda/5-hour Energy made a chase effort but was quickly marked by riders from UnitedHealthcare and Bissell. Yosvany Falcon (RealCyclist.com) made a solo move followed by Chad Hartley (Kenda/5-hour Energy), who worked together to hold a small lead over the field for several laps. Soladay and Bobby Lea (Pure Energy Cycling-ProAir HFA) tried to bridge across.

The next series of riders to attempt a breakaway included Kyle Wamsley (Bissell), Clayton Barrows (Stan’s No Tubes-AXA Equitable-CRCA) and Tom Soladay (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth). Wamsley won the mid-race prime for USA CRITS points.

Soladay continued to ride solo several laps before his breakaway was neutralized with 14 laps to go by riders attempting to bridge across. Bissell and UnitedHealthcare continued to have a strong presence at the front of the field. Andy Baker (Bissell) made his move but was covered by Davide Frattini (UnitedHealthcare). Daniel Holt (Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis) went on a solo flyer for one lap. He was followed by Ben Zawacki (Mountain Khakis p/b Smart Shop) and Jonny Clarke (UnitedHealthcare).

Blackgrove made one final move and stayed off the front for three laps, picking up a $1000 prime. Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) made a short effort to try and bridge across, but the two riders were reabsorbed into the field with four laps to go by the UnitedHealthcare train.

“We had a small team here because the other part of the team is racing in Brazil,” Borrajo said.