Northey notches up another win for PureBlack Racing in US

Mike Northey notched up his first win in America for PureBlack Racing taking out the Tour De Grove’s NRC Criterium in St Louis, Missouri this evening (US time). Northey beat a field of over 150 riders from the best teams in America, with many of the top teams including United Healthcare and Team Type 1 fielding squads of specialist Criterium riders.

Raced over 75 minutes the Criterium took place in wet and cold conditions that made the roads slippery and treacherous. The pace was on right from the start and the peloton was quickly stretched out over 100 metres.

“PureBlack Racing has already become known as the most aggressive team in America and tonight the guys were attacking off the front of the field right from the start,” said Carl Williams, Sports Director, PureBlack Racing.

With 30 minutes of the race to go a break of 10 riders including PureBlack Racing’s Mike Northey and Louis Crosby got away. The peloton chased hard for 25 minutes as teams who had missed the break tried to haul them back, but, the gap stuck at 25 seconds. With two laps to go it was clear the gap was never going to come back and Louis Crosby put in some huge turns driving the breakaway to set up Mike Northey for a sprint to the finish.

Mike Northey commenting on his sprint said, “There were three really technical corners leading into the home straight and I had worked out that with the slippery conditions I might be able to use this to my advantage and get a jump on the others and that's exactly what happened. I went with my sprint from about 500 metres and held the lead all the way to the line.”

PureBlack Racing team members celebrated Northey’s visit to the Podium with a haka http://www.twitvid.com/1UDUY.

The team has one more race in the Tour de Grove series tomorrow before it heads back to its US base in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information on the team and racing schedule see www.pureblackracing.com