June 08, 2006
Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling - Reading Classic
Reading, PA
HENDERSON ROARS BACK AT COMMERCE BANK READING CLASSIC BENEFITING FOX CHASE CANCER CENTER
New course in Reading proves huge success as city welcomes racers
Rain welcomed the Professional men to the line and sent them on their way after the final podium ceremony but the weather gods smiled on Reading city officials as the sun shone and the rain held during the race itself.
Even though most of the racers previewed the new course before the start, riders were unsure how the race would play out due in part to the sharp 1.5 mile climb up Mount Penn on the final lap. The field was content to warm up to the course with no serious moves going off the front for the first half of the race. On lap 6 of the 11-lap race an on-form Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly) and Ukraine Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators Insurance) jumped away and settled into a mutual working relationship. Their hard effort paid off with a gap that continued to grow to a maximum of 1 minute and 23 seconds with two laps remaining.
The field behind finally woke up and the Toyota-United Pro Team put their riders on the front to begin the long chase. With one lap to go, it looked as if they might have left it too late, but some last minute help from Team CSC and Health Net-Maxxis added the horsepower needed to reel in the two valiant escapees.
As the race came into the base of the final climb up Mount Penn, New Zealander Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis), last year’s Lancaster race winner, sent his team to the front to keep the pace high. It wasn’t enough to keep the flying Uzbekistan Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) from breaking clear with Chris Wherry (Toyota-United Postal), Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF) and Igor Astarloa (Barloworld). These four joined forces over the top of the climb but the combination wasn’t right and were reabsorbed by the front of the field as the race flew down toward the finish in downtown Reading.
The situation played perfectly into the hands of the speedy Henderson. After winning the battle for positioning into the final turn, Henderson powered up the final straight to take a beautiful win in this inaugural Commerce Bank Reading Classic. Lagutin had to settle for second place again after he took the runner up spot last Sunday in Lancaster. The young TIAA-CREF rider Pate signaled that he is on top of his game for Sunday’s Commerce Bank Philadelphia International Championship which he placed second in last year.
Sergey Lagutin moved into the lead in the prestigious Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling overall points competition which goes to the most consistent rider across the three race series. Henderson moved up into a tie in the series with Lancaster’s race winner Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada). The winner of the series will take the lion’s share of the $10,000 in prize money as well as win a new Mercury Mariner Hybrid.
PRO MEN RESULTS RIDER TEAM Greg HENDERSON Health Net - Maxxis Sergey LAGUTIN Navigators Insurance Danny PATE TIAA CREF Kirk O'BEE Health Net - Maxxis Facci MAURO BARLOWORLD GBR Caleb MANION JELLY BELLY Matti BRESCHEL Team CSC Chris WHERRY TOYOTA-UNITED USA Jairo HERNNDEZ COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Mark WALTERS Navigators Insurance Antonio CRUZ TOYOTA-UNITED USA Igor ASTARLOA BARLOWORLD GBR Matty Rice JELLY BELLY Luke Roberts Team CSC Dustin MacBurnie TARGETRAINING USA Trent WILSON Jittery Joe's Karl Menzies Health Net - Maxxis Mike Friedman TIAA CREF Robbie King PRIORITY HEALTH USA David O'Loughlin Navigators Insurance Francisco Colorado COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA James Perry BARLOWORLD GBR Kasper Klostergaard Team CSC Davide Frattini COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Lars Michaelsen Team CSC Jackson STEWART Kodak Sierra Nevada Emile ABRAHAM AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Richard FALTUS SPARKASSE GER Jonathan Page COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Jairo Salas COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Wilson Marentes COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Scott Zwizanski Kodak Sierra Nevada Ciaran Power Navigators Insurance Taylor Tolleson TIAA CREF Jeff Louder Health Net - Maxxis Yovanny Torres COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Gerardo Rodrguez COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Andrea Peron Team CSC Andrew Guptill TARGETRAINING USA Ben Jacques-Maynes Kodak Sierra Nevada Timo Honstein SPARKASSE GER Sebastian Frey SPARKASSE GER Matt Shriver TARGETRAINING USA Bruno Langlois AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Tom Zirbel PRIORITY HEALTH USA Christian Valenzuela Team Monex Justin Spinelli NERAC.COM Diego Montoya COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Peter Hatton Jittery Joe's John Delong RITE AID USA Mike Norton NERAC.COM Michael Blaudzun Team CSC Andrew Bajadali JELLY BELLY Ivan Dominguez TOYOTA-UNITED USA Aleajandro Acton TARGETRAINING USA Frank Pipp TARGETRAINING USA Alexander BOYD, VMG USA Peter Woestenberg NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Thijs Poelstra NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Valeriy Kobzarenko Navigators Insurance Alex CANDELARIO JELLY BELLY Shawn Milne Navigators Insurance Austin King Jittery Joe's Heath Blackgrove TOYOTA-UNITED USA Ben BROOKS Navigators Insurance Alexis Rojas Diaz COLUMBIA ES PASION COLUMBIA Johnny Hoogerland NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Jose Garcia TOYOTA-UNITED USA Prokic Predrag AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Frank Wierstra NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Devon Vigus Team Monex Jeremy Maartens BARLOWORLD GBR Giosue' Bonomi BARLOWORLD GBR Jacob Rytlewski PRIORITY HEALTH USA Ivan Stevic TOYOTA-UNITED USA Jean-Sebastien Perron CALYON-LITESPEED Josh Bezecny TARGETRAINING USA Brice Jones JELLY BELLY Brent Brookwalter PRIORITY HEALTH USA Kyle J Gritters Health Net - Maxxis Hayden Godfrey Team Monex Evan Elken Jittery Joe's Nick Riestad JELLY BELLY Kyle Wamsley COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Thad Dulin NERAC.COM Sean Sullivan TOYOTA-UNITED USA Kirk Albers JELLY BELLY Gustavo Artacho COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Francois Parisien TIAA CREF Rahsaan Bahati TIAA CREF Hilton CLARKE Navigators Insurance Jesse Anthony Kodak Sierra Nevada Mark MCCORMACK COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Brian Jensen JELLY BELLY Tim Johnson Health Net - Maxxis Glen Mitchell PRIORITY HEALTH USA Hugh Moran AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Martin Gilbert Kodak Sierra Nevada Maxim Vives CALYON-LITESPEED Emanuel Suarez Team Monex Stefan Loffler SPARKASSE GER Stefan Parinussa SPARKASSE GER Phillip Wong Jittery Joe's Martin Pedersen Team CSC Joel Dion-Poitras CALYON-LITESPEED Ryan Dewald RITE AID USA Todd Herriott COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Chad Hartley TIAA CREF Viktor Rapinski COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Jason Allen Kodak Sierra Nevada Marc Anderson Jittery Joe's Spencer BEAMER, VMG USA Zachary BOLIAN, VMG USA Brooke Boocock CALYON-LITESPEED Aaron Brown NERAC.COM Bill Elliston TARGETRAINING USA Richard England PRIORITY HEALTH USA Glenn Fant Team Monex Tom Flammang SPARKASSE GER Gordon Fraser Health Net - Maxxis Chris Frederick AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Dan Greenfield TARGETRAINING USA Juan Jose HAEDO TOYOTA-UNITED USA Hoyt Halvorson NERAC.COM Jon Hamblen NERAC.COM John Hanson NERAC.COM Todd HENRIKSEN, VMG USA Christoph Herby RITE AID USA Daniel Holt NERAC.COM Jeffrey Hopkins Jittery Joe's Brad Huff TIAA CREF Eric Keim AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Frank Kwanten NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Christian Lademann SPARKASSE GER Russell Langley RITE AID USA Viktor Laza, AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Peter Lopinto Kodak Sierra Nevada Erick Lyman CALYON-LITESPEED Ian D MacGregor TIAA CREF Nathan Miller Team Monex Tommy Nankervis PRIORITY HEALTH USA Rudy ROBAINA, VMG USA Michael Sayers Health Net - Maxxis Daniel Schmatz Kodak Sierra Nevada Brian Sheedy PRIORITY HEALTH USA Neil Shirley Jittery Joe's Ger Soepenberg NETHERLANDS NATIONAL TEAM - ALTIPOWER Josh Taylor RITE AID USA Frank Travieso AEG-TOSHIBA-JETNETWORK USA Brad Viera RITE AID USA Charly Vives CALYON-LITESPEED Tyler Wren COLAVITA-SUTTER HOME USA Taylor ZACHARY, VMG USA
PRO/ELITE WOMENTEUTENBERG PICKS UP WIN NUMBER TWO IN THE COMMERCE BANK TRIPLE CROWN OF CYCLING BENEFITING FOX CHASE CANCER CENTER
Reading welcomes racers to second leg of Commerce Bank Triple Crown of CyclingWinding their way through the historic streets of downtown Reading, the Pro/Elite women racers experienced what will surely become a classic in the week long bicycle race series, the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling.
Under perfect racing conditions of cool weather and in front of huge enthusiastic crowds, riders set off to complete 25 miles on the tough rolling 1.8 mile eight corner criterium circuit. The Reading course featured more climbing than last Sunday’s race in Lancaster presenting more opportunity for riders looking to break free of the group before the final sprint.
After the first lap the difficulty of the course was apparent as the riders flew through the start/finish strung out in one long line. Through the first half of the race no breaks were allowed any freedom until Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile) threw down a huge acceleration. The only rider to grab her wheel was the Victory Brewing racer Katharine Carroll and once these wto powerful women started working together, their gap ballooned.
Teams not represented in the break tried in vein to bring back the two escapees as the laps wound down. With the bell ringing to signal the last lap, Teutenberg and Carroll had a comfortable 30 second gap to set up for the final sprint and coming out of the final corner the world class German sprinter sealed the deal to take her second win in the three race Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling series.
Carroll took an excellent second place and sounded the alarm that she should be included as a favorite in the Commerce Bank Liberty Classic on Sunday. The field sprint for third was a tight race between local favorite Laura Van Gilder (Team Lipton) and Australian Rochelle Gilmore (Advil-Chapstick). After review of the photo-finish, race officials awarded third to Gilmore who earlier this year won the opening round of the Women’s World Cup in her home country.
Going into the final round of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling in Philadelphia on Sunday which offers double points, Teutenberg holds a commanding 46 point lead in the overall Triple Crown competition.
PRO/ELITE WOMEN RESULTS RIDER TEAM Ina TEUTENBERG T-Mobile Pro Cycling Team Katharine CARROLL Victory Brewing Cycling Team Rochelle GILMORE ADVIL-CHAPSTICK USA GILDER, Laura VAN Team Lipton Laura YOISTEN Victory Brewing Cycling Team Brenda LYONS Victory Brewing Cycling Team Gina GRAIN Colavita Cooking Light Theresa CLIFF-RYAN Verducci Breakaway Racing Rebecca LARSON Tri State Velo Amoroso Annette BEUTLER AARON'S USA Shannon HUTCHISON-KRUPAT AARON'S USA Megan ESMONDE Travelgirl Magazine Beth LEASURE Team Spirit Cycling Laura BOWLES Victory Brewing Cycling Team Courtenay BROWN McGuire Pro Cycling
