The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team's Australian Hilton Clarke and Jake Keough (USA) captured 1st and 3rd place respectively in the 9th Annual Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium yesterday evening in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Team Jamis-Sutter Home's Alejandro Borrajo (Argentina) split the two UnitedHealthcare sprinters by finishing second.

Clarke secured the Team's first win of the season two weeks ago on March 31 in Tampa at the 2012 Cigar City Brewing Criterium & Street Festival, beating Luis Amaran of Team Jamis-Sutter Home and Amaran's teammate, Kyle Wamsley, who took third in the first race of the national criterium calendar.

Wamsley put forth yet another valiant effort in Charlotte, but the five man squad from UnitedHealthcare consisting of Clarke, Adrian Hegyvary (USA), Jay Thomson (South Africa), Karl Menzies (Australia), and last year's Presbyterian Criterium winner, Jake Keough (USA), proved to be too much for the field. The boys in blue and white put forth a mammoth effort in the final laps to reel in the leaders and their well-executed lead out paved the way for Clarke and Keough to take spots one and three on the podium.

"Charlotte is stage one of an important weekend of back-to-back racing in the US for us. The guys will leave Charlotte and fly straight to (Tour of the) Battenkill where they will race shortly after landing in upstate New York," a happy UnitedHealthCare team manager Mike Tamayo commented in the finish line zone.

"I've been a director with this group for many years and I've seen them put together a great lead out, but tonight I wasn't so sure about the distance from where they took over the front. I thought it may have been too far from the finish, but they showed me and everyone else just how strong they are and pulled off an amazing ride and a great win," Tamara added.

"These guys are just so unselfish. Jake, Adrian, Jay and Karl were all selfless in devoting the entire race to make sure they could sprint for Hilton. Jake won this race last year and selflessly focused on helping Hilton win it this year, and he still landed on the podium. It is great to have such incredible talent working together to race and win for one another," Tamayo concluded.

Clarke's win was his second of the season and the victory allows him to remain atop the National Criterium Calendar's (NCC) individual standings. The victory also secures Team UnitedHealthCare Pro Cycling a first place ranking in the USA Cycling Team standings.

Results:
1 Hilton Clarke (UnitedHealthcare)    01:52:07
2 Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis/Sutter Home) 0:00:01
3 Jake Keough (UnitedHealthcare)
4 Issac Howe (Kenda/5hr Energy p/b Geargrinder)
5 Carlos Alzate (Team Exergy) 0:00:02
6 Robin Carpenter (Chipotle First Solar Development) 0:00:03
7 Oscar Clark (Team United Healthcare GA/706) 0:00:04
8 Tommy Nankervis (Competitive Cyclist Racing Team)
9 Daniel Holt (Team Type 1 Development) 0:00:05
10 Frank Travieso (Team Coco's)
11 Colin Jaskiewicz (Champion System p/b Stan's NoTubes)
12 Scottie Weiss (VeloShine Cycling Team)
13 Thomas Brown (Team Mountain Khakis/SmartStop)
14 Chris Stazny (California giant/specialized)
15 Chad Hartley (Kenda/5hr Energy p/b Geargrinder)
16 Alexey Shmidt (Team Type 1 Development) 0:00:06
17 Jean-Michel Lechance (Rossetti Devo Cycling Team) 0:00:07
18 Jackie Simes (Jamis/Sutter Home)
19 Clay Murfet (Team Mountain Khakis/SmartStop)
20 Kevin Mullervy (Team Exergy) 0:00:08