May 2, 2010, Sandy Springs, GA – The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis closed out the USA Crits Speed Week the same way they opened it: with a victory. Today it was Jake Keough getting his second victory of the week in the Global BMW Sandy Springs Criterium, with teammate Karl Menzies hanging on to take 2nd place ahead of Aaron Kemps (Fly V) after performing lead-out duties.
The victory closed out a week in which UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis won four out of seven races over nine days, while posting a pair of 2nd places and one 3rd place in the other three races. It was also the second time the Team put two riders on the podium in a race this week, after Pinfold finished 3rd in Spartanburg behind Keough.
Once again, it took a full team effort to deliver the win.
“It was kind of a crazy circuit,” Keough said. “It’s really twisty with one good hill. There were a lot of attacks today. All our guys were up there the whole day.”
It was also really windy, and few of those attacks were able to stick. However, with six laps to go, Andrew Pinfold and Adrian Hegyvary – who was also a key aggressor in yesterday’s Dilworth Criterium – were part of a dangerous six-rider break.
“That forced OUCH-Bahati to chase hard,” Keough said. Once again, it also gave Keough, Menzies and Jonny Clarke the opportunity to sit on and wait for the last couple laps to act. When the field was close to catching the break with two laps to go, Hegyvary took off solo, keeping the pressure on rival teams to chase, and giving time for Pinfold to slot in behind Clarke in the lead-out train.
With a lap to go, the accelerating pack caught Hegyvary. With the catch, it set up the same scenario that the team used to deliver Menzies for the win in Charlotte yesterday.
Clarke took over the front with Pinfold, Menzies and Keough on his wheel. Clarke lead the train through the first half of the final lap, with Pinfold taking them through a pair of corners before dropping off Menzies and Keough before the last corner. Menzies took Keough through the last corner and Keough came off his wheel for the sprint win. Menzies kept going and narrowly held off Kemps for the second step on the podium.
“The only thing that could’ve made it better is if Pinner had held on for third,” Menzies quipped.
Notes
UnitedHealthcare Presented by Maxxis’ held a nearly 800-point lead in the overall team competition at Speed Week coming into today’s race. Taking the top two spots in the finish while riding aggressively throughout easily sealed the team competition win.
Keough had already wrapped up the U25 individual competition coming into the finale. Taking the win merely put an exclamation point on the title.
This same crew will take a couple days to rest in Asheville, North Carolina before flying to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race, which begins Wednesday.
“We had a lot of fun this week,” Keough said. “We have a lot of momentum going forward. We’re all looking forward to Joe Martin.”