Keough leads UnitedHealthcare sweep in Vegas

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Luke Keough (UnitedHealthcare) took the win in the USA CRITS finals under the lights of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Keough's teammate Hilton Clarke sealed his overall win with a second-place finish, leaving little doubt that UnitedHealthcare was the top criterium squad in the US, once again sweeping the podium with Carlos Alzate in third, after chasing down a dangerous late-race breakaway.

"The team has been awesome all year," Keough said. "It's been a long year that started way back in March in Tucson, and to end it here in Las Vegas is pretty amazing."

The men covered 70 laps of the 1km course in a parking lot adjacent to the Las Vegas casino and convention center that also hosted the 2013 Interbike trade show. The early pace set by the 112-rider men's field had things strung out for the first quarter of the race, with more than half the field abandoning or being pulled before things finally settled down.

Escape attempts were frequent, but nothing gained traction until Drew Christopher (Primal-McDonald Audi) got away with 39 laps to go. Christopher built a lead of 24 seconds but was caught after 10 laps off the front. Two laps later, Cannondale's Guillaume Boivin peeled away from the bunch and started working on his own advantage. Smart Stop-Mountain Khakis' Eric Marcotte bridged up to Boivin with 22 laps remaining, and the race was on for the powerful duo.

UnitedHealthcare took over the front of the race to limit the leaders' advantage to less than 10 seconds and then slowly started whittling away at the gap, eventually bringing the pair back into the fold with just four laps remaining.

"Those are some strong guys," Keough said of the late breakaway. "If there were more than two of them out there we would have had a tough time pulling them back. As it was, with just two guys against six, it was still pretty daunting. They got some primes as a reward, so I think everyone made out well."

UnitedHealthcare's "Blue Train," which has won 32 of the 34 criteriums that the team has started this year, set up for the finish with Karl Menzies, Alzate and Keough leading Clarke through the final laps. Menzies peeled off with two to go, leaving the final three to sweep up the podium spots.

"We actually ran it a little late," Keough said. "We wanted Karl Menzies to take it a little earlier than that, so we had Carlos go really early with one lap to go, and it worked out perfectly. With all the tight turns you just can't move around that much, and with the speeds we were going we had it strung out."

Clark's second-place finish secured his series overall win ahead of Alzate, while Smart Stop's Shane Kline held onto the third spot.

"I've got to tell you how grueling this series is," Clarke said. "Even tonight, if I'd have had a flat tire in the last five laps, it was possible I still could have been third in the series with no points tonight. The points are structured in such a way that you can not have a bad result.

"For Carlos, if he hadn't crashed in the ninth round in Boise, he probably would have won the series," Clarke continued. "One error in a 10-race series and you're out. So it's really been a tough series. I know it might look like we make it easy, but every race we come in and just think wow, we pulled it off again. It's a really tough series, and I'm really happy to win it."

Full Results

Final standings