Owen cruises to Louisville USGP win

While it comes as no surprise that seven-time and reigning US Junior 'cross champion Logan Owen (Redline) would be the rider who stood on the podium's highest step after its conclusion, the 17-year-old Worlds contender nonetheless made it a little more difficult on himself due to his spectacular crash not long after taking the hole shot.

"I took that first little bump a little too fast and flipped over," Owen told Cyclingnews. "Good thing I know how to roll pretty well from BMX crashes so I'm used to flipping over the bars.

"I bounced back and stayed calm as I moved up. I wasn't too worried, I just took my time, got up there and started attacking. It was a little bit like my World Cup at Plzen, although not as difficult."

The initial beneficiary of Owen's fall was Curtis White (Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team) who rode solo into the early lead soon after Owen crashed.

The Redline rider made steady progress, however, as he worked his way through the field and by the beginning of the third lap Owen completed his bridge to White at the head of the race.

A couple of missteps by White would soon give Owen a window of opportunity which he parlayed into victory.

"I made a mistake on the first off-camber section, got back up to him, made another mistake and I think that was the race," White told Cyclingnews. "He just got the gap and made it bigger and bigger."

Owen would extend his lead over White to 51 seconds by the finish, while White's teammate Nathaniel Morse rounded out the podium in third place at 1:46.

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