Noah Granigan behaalt eerste Europese zege in Lauwe

In het West-Vlaamse Lauwe verschenen 64 juniores aan de start voor 15 ronden van 6,4 kilometer. Aan de start ook enkele Amerikanen waaronder de winnaar van de wedstrijd Noah Granigan. Hij zond ons volgend verslag door van zijn eerste Europese zege.

It was a 15 lap race, and I rode conservatively for the first few laps, because it was a fairly long race, 96 km. About five laps in I followed a move and quickly found myself in a breakaway of three riders. After a lap or so in the break, 5 riders bridged up to us. We rolled along in a group of 8, but it was too big and riders were not sharing the work equally, so Bright attacked and we whittled the breakaway down to 5 riders, but three of them were on the same team. Bright and I raced smart, knowing that the three riders would try to use team tactics on us, but in the end, we were both stronger than the three teammates. With one lap to go, Bright attacked again and both of us got clear of the rest of the breakaway. We worked together, making each other hurt, and with 1 km to go, one rider caught back up to us. On the climb with about 500m to go, Bright attacked and went hard all the way to the finish. With about 200 m to go, I sprinted around Bright and won by about a bike length. This is only my 4th victory of the year, but it is my first in Europe, so I am very happy to finally win over here. Unfortunately, I fly home on Tuesday, August 20th. I race again on Saturday and Sunday.