Photos By Jonathan Devitch, Epic Images. US

UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team’s two-man crew of Boy van Poppel (NED) and Davide Frattini (ITA) took on more than 70 international professional cyclists on Friday, March 2, in Singapore, and the tandem worked together to land Boy van Poppel a 2nd place finish in the hot and rainy night’s criterium. GreenEDGE’s Robbie McEwen (AUS) edged van Poppel in the narrowest of margins; with the photo finish declaring McEwen crossed the line first in a time of 1 hour 20 minutes and 53 seconds. Matthias Friedmann of Team Champion System took 3rd place.

Frattini and van Poppel are two experienced Cyclo-cross riders who know how to handle the wet road conditions and race well under such conditions in a fast criterium. Speaking on the duo’s performance at the OCBC Cycle Singapore 2012 Pro Criterium, Frattini said, “This was a great crit tonight. Boy (van Poppel) and I worked well together. We raced a smart race and covered all the moves. Boy was in the winning move of six riders and able to finish 2nd behind McEwen.”

Frattini continued, “Our Maxxis tires performed extremely well on the wet surface, which gave us confidence at high speeds. And this was a very good night for us, especially with our sponsors from NEILPRYDE Bikes in attendance tonight.”

Van Poppel’s effort secured the Team’s fourth 2nd place finish in international racing this week, with Jay Thomson (RSA) finishing 2nd in the South Africa Nationals Men’s Elite Individual Time Trial, and Jake Keough (USA) nabbing two 2nd place spots at Le Tour de Langkawi (Stage 2 and Stage 4). Add in Keough’s 3rd place finish in Stage 8 in Langkawi, Team UnitedHealthcare has secured five podium finishes in the past five days.