Howe wins Sunny King crit

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Kenda/5-Hour Energy put their stamp on the NCC's 2012 Sunny King Criterium men's pro race in downtown Anniston, Alabama, delivering Issac Howe to the sprint victory over Exergy's Carlos Alzate and Kyle Walmsley (Jamis/Sutter Home).

Phil Gaimon from Kenda leapt into an early break with Ben Chaddock of Team Exergy. The pair built a 30 second lead early in the 60-lap race. But eventually Gaimon’s pace proved too much for Chaddock and the Kenda rider rode solo for several more laps.

A chase by the remaining teams eventually whittled down Gaimon’s lead and the field swallowed him up after nabbing several primes. As soon as Gaimon was caught, the counter attacks began, adding to the excitement with virtually every team attempting to get separation.

As the attacks increased in frequency and intensity and the pace became unbearable, the field slowly began shedding riders. As the lap counter showed eight laps to go, the field calmed down a bit, allowing Team Mountain Khakis/Smart Stop along with Team Exergy and Kenda/5-Hour Energy to take control and begin setting up their leadouts. As each team tried to ramp up the pace and take control, no one team was able to maintain a lead. Coming into the last windy uphill finish straight it was Kenda/5- Hour Energy who was able to lead out sprinter Isaac Howe to the finish line for a win by a bike length.

Howe was first across the line, followed by Carlos Alzate of Team Exergy in second, with Kyle Wamsley of Jamis/Sutter Home in third.

"We had Phil( Gaimon) off the front. We wanted him to wrap it up solo and worst case every other team chases him down and we get to sit and just take it easy. He did a great job doing that and it came back. In the end fortunately I was able to come through for everyone. This is my fourth year doing this race and I love it. We had a great crowd and the live streaming was so great for our families and friends to be able to watch us race," said Howe.

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