The city of Spartanburg was the fifth stop of the Speed Week series. In the women’s race the Colavita-Baci domination continued with Theresa Cliff-Ryan notching another win. Under the city lights UnitedHealthcare’s Jake Keough came over the top of the Ouch/Bahati Foundation train to take the win.

“After being so close the last few races, this win was sweet,” Keough said. “We’re racing consistently well, and it’s good to finally get back on the top step.”

To demonstrate how fast the racing was Geoff Godsey of Kenda Pro Cycling Team Twittered that his teammate’s power file for the race was 348 watts for 90 minutes. To further back this up, Chad Andrews of Total Cyclist also Twittered, “If you are going to be a factor atUSA Crits, you better be able to do 350 plus watts normalized for 90 minutes.” That’s a whole lot of watts.

The men’s race was continually strung out with weaker riders dropping off the back as the average speed remained over 30 miles per hour on this flat, four corner circuit. Several attacks went up the road however none contained the right mix of teams represented to stay away. However, with six laps remaining Jonny Clarke went solo and at one point had 12 seconds on the OUCH/Bahati Foundation lead chase.

With three laps remaining, Clarke was brought back and the two powerhouse teams of the night, UnitedHealthcare and OUCH/Bahati Foundation, started to organize their lead out trains. As the bell rung for the final lap, it was apparent that someone from either team was going to take the victory.

Rocketing out of the shadows of the final turn it was curb to curb and it wasn’t until the last meters that a clear winner could be identified. Sprinting across the klieg lighted finish line was Jake Keough.

“Coming into the final turns, Hilton [Clarke -OUCH/Bahati Foundation] was able to slip between me and [teammate Andrew] Pinner,” Keough said. “I came off of Hilton’s wheel in the sprint and was able to get around him at the line.”

In the overall team competition UnitedHealthcare extended their lead over Team Type I.

In the women’s race Cliff-Ryan continued her winning streak by taking the sprint from Laura Van Gilder [Mellow Mushroom]. Right behind her was Erica Allar of the Vera Bradley Foundation.

Results
Men
1 Jacob Keough (UnitedHealthcare)
2 Hilton Clarke (Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling)
3 Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare)
4 Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare)
5 Luca Damiani (KENDA)
6 Alexey Schmidt (Team Type 1)
7 Adam Myerson (Team Mountain Khakis)
8 Luis Zayas
9 Emile Abraham (Aerocat Racing)
10 Daniel Holt (Team Type 1)

Women
1 Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita/Baci Pro Cycling)
2 Laura Van Gilder (Mellow mushroom)
3 Erica Allar (Team Vera Bradley Foundation)
4 Liza Rachetto (TREADS.com/DFT)
5 Tiffany Pezzulo (TREADS.com/DFT)
6 Kori Seehafer (Team Type 1)
7 Anna Lang (Vanderkitten Racing)
8 Jenny Trew (BMW-Bianchi)
9 Kacey Manderfield (Cycle Loft)
10 Samantha Schneider (TEAM Tibco)

NOTES
Standing in the wheel pit during the men’s race was Rahsaan Bahati. The previous day he had planned on racing in Spartanburg, however that morning he woke up not feeling well and decided to sit out. He said that he is considering racing at the Dilsworth criterium in Charlotte but is waiting to see how he feels.