Luke Keough, Allar seal USA CRITS titles with wins in Vail

The 2012 USA CRITS Championship Series calendar came to a close with the inaugural Tour of Vail criterium, where Luke Keough (Team SmartStop-Mountain Khakis) and Erica Allar (Rideclean/PatentIt.com) emerged victorious. Both riders began the series' final race sitting comfortably in their leading positions in the overall and defended them with first place finishes. This is the third year that Allar has been crowned the women's champion, while Keough's second consecutive overall win proves that the 21-year-old's career continues to be impressive.

"It's been a great year for not only myself, but the entire team," Keough said following his win. "Everyone rode a great season and we've had some big results, but to end it with a win out here in beautiful Vail - couldn't beat it."

In the women's race, Allar, Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) and Whitney Schultz (Paceline Projects p/b Veloforma) formed a breakaway just six minutes into the women's race which spawned a gap that gradually grew to 33 seconds by the halfway point. The trio would lap the field with 18 laps remaining as the rest of the peloton competed for the 4th position. Amity Elliot of Team Kenda attacked with 13 laps to go and the 30-second lead she was able to retain on the field guaranteed her the 4th place finish.

Lenore Pipes of Rideclean/PatentIt.com marked Schultz in the final moments of the race to deliver fellow teammate Allar to a first place finish, with Alison Powers (NOW and Novartis for MS) and Whitney Schultz (Paceline Projects p/b Veloforma) coming in second and third respectively. As soon as the top four crossed the line, a crash took down much of the remaining field who were competing for the number five spot, including Robin Farina (NOW and Novartis for MS) and Allar's Rideclean/PatentIt.com teammate Colleen Hayduk.

The men's field shot straight out of the gate not long afterwards, chasing big primes like the $250 picked up by Euris Vidal (CRCA Foundation) during the first lap. Strung out two laps in, national criterium champion Ken Hanson (Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) was in the mix throughout the event.

There was a dangerous, five-man breakaway comprised of Andy Bajadali (Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Robin Eckmann (California Giant), Kevin Mullervy (Team Exergy), Jake Wells (Stan's NoTubes), and Colby Pearce (Horizon Organic/Panache Development) that was established with 36 laps to go, but the peloton eventually caught them on the 1km cobbled course. Mullervy attacked and soloed off the front to pick up a generous $500 prime, but eventually the turning point was as Optum Pro Cycling moved to the front of the race to set up Hanson for victory.

A $500 prime that went to Alexei Schmidt (Team Type 1 Devo) sped up the final moments of racing, and just when it looked like Hanson would in fact be able to capitalize on the work of his teammates, Luke Keough came around him out of the final corner to take the win, narrowly missing the barriers from his final burst of speed. Hanson would have to settle for second place, while Rafael Meran (CRCA Foundation) finished in third.

"Optum rode a great race. You saw that," said Keough. "They were aggressive early. They put me in the hurt locker pretty bad. I was trying to cover some moves, maybe get in that break that we thought was gonna go. It ended up not going and then they rode those last 16 laps really, really well...They rode a great race."

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