Commerce Bank Triple Crown

USA, June 4-11, 2006

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Race 3 - June 11: Commerce Bank Liberty Classic, 57.6 miles

Live Commentary by Kristy Scrymgeour with additional reporting from Mark Zalewski

Complete live report

08:43 EDT   
Welcome to Philadelphia and Cyclingnews’ live coverage of the prestigious annual race, now known as the Commerce Bank Philadelphia International Championship for the men and the Liberty Classic for the women. It’s a beautiful morning. The sun is out and even a couple of hours before the start, spectators were heading out to the course to get set up for a day of entertainment. It is quite windy out here today though. Our reporter Mark Zalewski was just walking past the feed zone and the wind is so strong that the “feed zone” sign went flying across the road and into the barriers. The wind is coming from the direction of the river so the riders will have a strong cross wind all the way along Kelly Drive. It is also quite chilly with temperatures in the mid 50’s but it will warm up as the race prceeds, reaching a high of 74.

The course is 23km long, starting on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and heading out to Manayunk along Kelly Drive before turning right onto the infamous Manayunk Wall. The Wall is about a mile long and gets steeper as it goes up and at the top it flattens out but is still a false flat along the top before turning right towards the descent and it is this false flat part that can hurt the most, especially after ten laps of racing. After the very fast descent, the rider merge back onto Kelly Drive to head back towards the start/finish, making two detours on the way back to take in the small climbs of Strawberry and Lemon Hill. Lemon Hill in particular is where a lot of the breakaway action takes place in the latter stages of the race and races have been won from attacks on this climb.

08:49 EDT   
Already this morning, hundereds of people took part in a ride that consisted of a lap of the race course. The ride was called Pedal for Prevention and run by the The Fox Chase Cancer Center. Already today they have raised $35,000. Now those people can watch the pro's do it and appreciate the steepness of the Manayunk wall.

08:56 EDT   
The men will take of first and the women will follow on the same course ten minutes later. In the women's race Ina-Yoko Teutenberg is back to defend her title with the T-Mobile team. She is definitely one of the favourites but her and Judith Arndt were both hit by a car yesterday whilst training on the course with the team, so they may not be feeling the best this morning. They are both ok. Judith has a broken finger and Ina is a bit bruised and sore but both happy that it wasn't worse.

08:59 EDT   
The National Anthem is playing and then the men will start with three short parade laps, before heading out of Kelly Drive and the women are lined up behind them ready to go when they finish the parade laps.

09:08 EDT   
The men's race is underway. The parade laps were always thought to be just that, parade laps, but already we have an attack. Jacob Fetty (Nerac.com) attacked and was followed by Johnny Hoogerland (Netherlands National Team), but they have both been caught. Perhaps they just wanted to get on TV.

09:09 EDT   
A Health Net rider is attacking now with a rider from Toyota United and Colavita. Another rider is bridging. Well with over 200km of racing on the cards today, these guys are waiting around.

09:11 EDT   
They've all been caught again too and we have a counter. It's strung out at the front. A Priority Health riders and a Colavita rider have a small gap at this point.

09:15 EDT   
Now Alejandro Acton (Targetraining) and Christian Lademann (Sparkasse) are away together now and they have about 15 seconds. Kyle Wamsley (Colavita) is bridging as they head out onto the first of the main laps. The peloton is chasing though and Wamsley is getting caught and the gap to the leaders is coming down. The riders are hugging the wall on the side of the road to stay protected from the wind.

09:20 EDT   
Three riders are briding to the front two. It's Fetty again along with Chad Hartley (TIAA CREF) and Josh Taylor (Rite Aid).

Meanwhile, the women have just start the first of their four laps and head around the roundabout before heading out along Kelly Drive. Our reporter Kirsten Robbins caught up with a few of the riders before the start to see how they were feeling. Teutenberg told her that she was going to see how she felt out there. She thinks she is feeling ok but if not she says her teammates will be ready to get into breaks themselves. They have a few cards to play.

09:21 EDT   
In the men's race Alejandro Acton (Targetraining) and Christian Lademann (Sparkasse) are still hanging out there off the front and Daniel Holt (Nerac.com) is bridging. He is up with them now and the lead three have 8 seconds on the field.

09:23 EDT   
Two other riders are bridging. Ryan Yee (Successfulliving.com) and Tyler Wren (Colavita).

09:26 EDT    16.3km/214.1km to go
The men are on Main st, Manayunk now heading for the climb. Acton is taking a turn now. The leaders have 12 seconds to the bridging pair and another 15 seconds to the field.

09:28 EDT   
They are making the right hand turn and under the railway onto Manayunk. They are not on the wall and out of the saddle. There is already a crowd on the wall but nothing compared to what we will see later. The die hards are already here drinking beer.

The two bridging riders have been caught by the field as they reach the bottom of the climb. The three leaders are also just about to get caught over this steep section.

09:29 EDT   
Acton is alone now on the climb and the other two are getting caught. He reaches the false flat part of the wall. He takes the KOM sprint points at the top. Holt takes second place just in front of the field. Holt surges and manages to catch Acton again and the pair go onto the descent with an 8 second gap on the field.

09:32 EDT   
In the women's race the pace is fast as they head down Kelly Drive towards the wall for the first time. T-Mobile, Colavita and TEAm Lipton have been setting the pace and keeping it high. There were a few crashes last year early in the race so they would be wanting to keep the pace high to prevent crashes.

09:33 EDT   
In the men's race it's all back together. The two leaders were caught on the descent. They are back on the flat now and we have another counter attack.

09:35 EDT   
We also caught up with Australian sprinter Rochelle Gilmore on the start line. She told us that she's feeling great today and she's looking forward to a sprint at the end. She's quite confident and even said that if you're putting money on this race you should put it on her.

09:38 EDT   
TIAA CREF is attacking the men's field right now but the field is on it as they head up Strawberry Hill. Another counter from Mike Jones (Health Net) with David O'Laughlin (Navigators) and Dustin MacBurnie (Targetraining). They have seven seconds.

09:41 EDT   
Jones, O'Laughlin and MacBurnie are gradually increasing their lead with the latest time gap at 11 seconds. John Hamblen (Nerac.com) is bridging as well as
Chad Hartley (TIAA CREF) and Tyler Wren (Colavita).

09:43 EDT   
In the women's field Annette Beutler (Aaron's USA) attacked on the wall and took the points at the top. She now has 18 seconds on the field. Her pace on the climb was so fast that the field totally split up. Even before Manayunk about a third of the field had been dropped. It's going to be an aggressive race for the women.

09:45 EDT   
Kori Seehafer took second place over the climb and was trying to bridge but she has been caught by the bunch now. T-Mobile is setting the pace in the chase to bring back Beutler.

In the men's race Hartley managed to make it up to the three leaders and so we have a lead group of four riders.

09:46 EDT   
Gord Fraser (Health Net) is asking for service from his team car. He must have a puncture.

09:51 EDT   
Fraser is ok, he was just handing back some clothing as it's warming up now. The men's field have gone through the start/finish after one main lap and are now heading out for their second of ten main laps. At the end of ten laps they will complete three smaller laps of 4.8km each going over Lemon Hill each time.

09:56 EDT   
In the women's race Beutler is still away as she goes over Lemon Hill. There has been some confusion on Lemon Hill as an ambulance was in the middle of the road and the bunch had to go around it. On this hill however a group of six riders attacked the bunch to try to bridge to Beutler. In that group is Mari Holden (T-Mobile), Michelle Hyland, Rosara Joseph and Sarah Ulmer (Jazz Apple NZL), Katie Mactier (Argon 18) Kristin Armstrong (TEAm Lipton) and Erinne Willock (Webcor).

09:57 EDT   
In the men's field the leaders have over a minute on the field now. Russel Langley (Rite Aid) and Jon Hamblen (Nerac.com) are bridging.

10:00 EDT   
In the men's race the leaders are on the wall for the second time. They're out of the saddle with O'laughlin setting the pace. The spectator's are getting loud.

10:02 EDT   
MacBurnie took the KOM points over the climb followed by O'Laughlin, followed by Jones. Hartley moves to the front to set the pace on the descent.

10:05 EDT   
In the women's race the bridging group has been caught as has Beutler. When they were caught Sarah Ulmer countered but was reeled in and a New Zealand National Team has countered. The rider is Marian Duvnjak. She has about 300m on the field and there is no chase yet although Lipton and T-Mobile are at the front setting pace.

10:07 EDT    45km/185.4km to go
In the men's field the two chasers, Langley and Hamblen were caught on the climb and the four leaders still have 58" on the field.

10:09 EDT   
The main women's field is down to only about 50 riders. All the favourites are still in there but the pace has been very high and there was also a crash on Manayunk wall on the first lap that involved about 15 riders and the group behind them got gapped off.

10:12 EDT   
The latest time split in the men's race is 1'25" and growing. The riders are all doing even turns. Back in the field we have an attack from Jacob Fetty (Nerac.com) again. He was active earlier and this team has really been trying to get someone up to that break.

10:12 EDT   
Jake Rubelt (AEG) is trying to bridge to him as they head towards Lemon Hill.

10:14 EDT   
The women are on manayunk again. Kristin Armstrong (TEAm Lipton) attacked at the bottom. Beutler went with her as did a couple of Webcor riders.

10:15 EDT   
The break in the men's race now has a two minute gap and the two chasers are 1'45" behind them. MacBurnie took the Lemon Hill KOM sprints so he is obviously going for the KOM jersey today.

10:19 EDT   
In the women's race the T-Mobile team chased Armstrong and Beutler over top of the climb and it's all back together but there is a counter on the descent and riders bridging up to her. It was Sarah Ulmer who attacked. She has now been caught by a group of about twenty riders. There is a split to the next group. T-Mobile is on the front of the first group setting the pace. They have a significant gap on the second group at this point.

10:21 EDT   
T-Mobile and Nurnberger are on the front of the first group as we come up to Lemon Hill. The second group is catching the first so we'll be back with a main group of 40 riders.

Beutler took the KOM points at the top of the wall so she has the lead on the mountains competition so far.

10:23 EDT    54km/176.4km to go
We are 54km into the men's race. The lead group of four riders has increased it's lead to 2'15" and the two chasers are still in the middle 1'40" down on the leaders. They are heading towards Manayunk for the third time.

10:25 EDT   
In the men's field Chris Wherry looks good as he sits up and eats a bit. We caught up with a couple of days ago and he says he is feeling good. He had a good race in Reading the other day and was looking forward to today. The Toyota United team does have a couple of the best sprinters in the field but they have many cards to play.

10:26 EDT   
The two briding riders are getting caught by the field now leaving just the four leaders out there over two minutes ahead.

10:29 EDT   
The women are going over Lemon Hill and the field is totally strung out. Four riders have a slight advantage over the field going over the top but the field is chasing hard behind them on this downhill. The gap is ten seconds.

Kristin Armstrong is driving the break that also has Beutler, Katie Mactier, Sue Palmer-Komar and Sarah Ulmer.

10:31 EDT   
The five of them are working together and T-Mobile is chasing really hard and has is strung out. The pace of T-Mobile is splitting up the field. The break has five seconds as they go around the circle at the start/finish. Two laps to go now for the women.

The break has been caught as they go through the feed zone and the field is spread across the road. This is the only time they can feed during the race.

10:33 EDT   
Back to the men's race and Ryan Yee (Sucessfulliving.com) and Jacob Fetty (Nerac) are trying to bridge to the break. They have 30 seconds on the field as they head onto Manayunk for the third time. The leaders have increased their gap to 3 minutes as they hit the climb.

10:37 EDT   
The leaders are on the wall. They are all looking at each other. There is a battle for the KOM points between O'Laughlin and MacBurnie. The crowds are really growing. We are going past the water hole. It's traditional that this hose sprays water onto the climb each year for the riders to cool down a bit in the heat. This year it's quite cool so the hose is pointed down at this point. It will be put to use later in the day no doubt.

Macburnie took the points followed by Jones, O'Laughlin and Hartley. The chasers are at 2'45" now with the field at 3'00".

10:40 EDT   
Traditionally in the men's race the guys in these early break are pawns for their team's and will eventually get caught later in the race having allowed their teammates to sit in and stay as fresh as possible until the main action starts later. The beauty of the KOM competition however gives these guys something to be out here for as well, so they'll be aiming to stay out there as long as possible and get as many points as they can early in the day.

10:43 EDT   
Right now in the women's race things have settled down. There's no attacking and they're going fairly easy at this point. They can see the men's field going in the other direction along Kelly Dr as they head along the river towards Manayunk. This will be their third of four laps for the day.

10:47 EDT   
Yee and Fetty have been caught by the peloton.

We talked to Rahsaan Bahati (TIAA CREF) this morning before the race. He says his job for the day is to get Danny Pate to the front of the peloton before the base of the climb each lap. Of course getting him to the front is not a problem but getting over each climb and back up into position to help out Pate again every lap is quite a task. It is important for these team leaders to have good position going onto the climb. Because there are a couple of sharp turns before the very steep climb the peloton bottle necks and if you don't have good position you have to slow down a lot and then you have to chase over the top the climb which is wasting energy. After ten laps and 200km it makes a difference.

10:49 EDT   
The men are a kilometer to Lemon Hill right now where they'll sprint for more KOM points.

MacBurnie took the points so he's easily leading the KOM competition. The guys in the break look really smooth and they're working well together.

10:51 EDT   
The women are at the base of Manayunk. It looks like a Webcor rider attacking on the climb. She opened up a big gap and climbed the wall solo.

10:54 EDT   
A group has joined the Webcor rider in the women's field and they have a gap on the rest of the field. It looks like ten riders in the group as descend this long fast downhill and towards Strawberry Hill.

10:57 EDT   
There is another ambulance on the course as the riders come up on it. It's quite dangerous. The front group actually has about 15 riders and it's been driven right now by the Lipton team. They have quite a big gap on the rest of the field - it looks like at least 30 seconds right now. Lipton and Webcor are attacking out of the group. T-Mobile is chasing. The Lipton rider is driving the pace.

10:59 EDT   
In the men's field another two riders attacked the field to try to bridge but they have now been caught. There has been a crash in the feed zone. It's Gerardo Rodriguez from the Colombian National Team. He is up and getting back on though.

11:01 EDT   
In the women's field the two attackers from the front group have been caught and the group of 15 is getting caught by the rest of the peloton. It's not quite caught but it's getting there. Lipton was initially driving the break we leads one to believe that Teutenberg was not in the group, so T-Mobile must be chasing the rest of the field back on.

11:02 EDT   
The men's peloton is taking a major nature break. The gap to the leaders have increased to over four minutes.

11:04 EDT   
It's all back together in the women's field as they head towards Lemon Hill for the second last time. It's still about 40 women in that front group with all the favourites in there. The rest of the peloton is broken up into three or four major groups.

11:08 EDT    85km/145.4km to go
Josh Taylor (Rite Aid) has attacked the peloton and is in no man's land in between the break and the field. He has 35 seconds on the field. He's going to be hoping that someone else comes with him as he tries to bridge to this break.

The break is on Main Street, Manayunk. They are taking about 30 second turns and keeping a good rhythm.

Funnily enough on the descent, the police are lining the roads to make sure the team cars stay under 45 miles an hour on the descent. I believe they even issued tickets last year.

11:10 EDT   
O'Laughlin leads the group onto the climb. They're all out of the saddle going past thousands of screaming spectators. Hartley takes over the pace and they're moving at a very nice tempo. It's really steep here half way up.

As they reach the end of the really steep section they get to the water hole and Hartley is still leading. MacBurnie gets ready to move forward to take the points. There is no contest for the sprint. He takes them and leads them around the corner on to the descent.

11:16 EDT   
A Victory Brewing rider has attacked. It's Leigh Hobson and she has a small gap. Lipton started the chase but now another rider is trying to bridge from the Nurnberger. T-Mobile lead the chase and it's all together again.

11:18 EDT   
Another riders has attacked the women's field. A Nurnberger rider is bridging up. There is another group of four chasing them followed by the field. Lipton is chasing.

11:20 EDT   
The small groups off the front of the women's field have been caught. It's all together again as they near Manayunk for the final time.

11:23 EDT    94.88km/135.52km to go
In the men's field the lead riders now have 5'40" on the field. There is a small split in the men's field as some of the teams think about starting the chase. They are getting to Lemon Hill for yet another KOM sprint. MacBurnie takes the points again.

11:26 EDT   
T-Mobile is on the front of the peloton as they head along Main St before the climb. People are getting positions for the climb. The climbers will really give it everything on this final climb. The Lipton team is just in behind T-Mobile as they turn onto the climb over a small cobbled section under the railway.

11:27 EDT   
Beutler is on the front again going up the climb but she's not actually attacking this time. It's wide across the road on the steepest section of the climb.

11:29 EDT   
The riders have gone over the top of Manayunk now. It was all together over the top this time. The climbers have obviously decided to set it up for their sprinters now. I'm sure we'll see some attacks on the way in though. Most likely from riders like Sarah Ulmer.

11:30 EDT   
The field is strung out on the descent but it's all together. TEAm Lipton is on the front with T-Mobile just behind.

In the men's field a couple of Toyota United riders are on the front setting the pace. It's not a real chase yet but it's somewhat of a start.

11:35 EDT   
Ed Beamon, Director of Navigator's wearing a purple wig and a crazy hat. Not sure what the significance of that is but I guess that's just Ed.

In the women's field Victory Brewing has a few riders on the front of the field right now but it's not fast. It's spread across the road with probably about 35 riders left up front. Nurnberger has attacked and T-Mobile has just covered it. The Nurnberger riders looked around the see the T-Mobile rider on her wheel and has stopped. Nurnberger is pulling hard trying to set things up for the World Champion Regina Schleicher. Schleicher came second last year to Teutenberg and will be hoping to improve on that this year.

11:36 EDT   
The women are just going over Strawberry Hill now. Less than ten kilometers to go in their race.

11:39 EDT   
Joanne Keisanowski (New Zealand) is also one to watch if this comes down to a bunch sprint. Rochelle Gilmore too but we are not sure if she is still in the bunch at this point.

A few riders are attempting to attack which has the field strung out at this point, but nothing is getting off the front right now. Victory Brewing has been attacking, Nurnberger also. TEAm Lipton and T-Mobile are keeping it all together.

11:40 EDT   
In the men's race the gap is up to six minutes.

11:42 EDT   
The women's field is approaching Lemon Hill for the last time. It looks like Ina-Yoko Teutenberg is attacking. She is with another rider. It's Sarah Ulmer and a Lipton rider. They've been caught now though.

11:43 EDT   
It's single file now and T-Mobile is on the front. They have less than five kilometers to go. Regina is sitting in just behind the T-Mobile team. Colavita are behind her.

11:46 EDT   
Kimberly Baldwin is driving the pace but a Webcor rider has attacked. The whole Lipton team is on her wheel. However on the other side of the road the T-Mobile team is faster so they've pulled ahead again. They are going around a corner.

All the sprinters are lined up behind Teutenberg. They are coming up to the finish. T-Mobile driving it. Teutenberg starts the sprint. Regina comes around Teutenberg to take the win with Tina Pic taking third place.

11:48 EDT   
Teutenberg couldn't quite defend the title. The World Champion goes one better than last year and takes the win.

Women's Results

Provisional
1 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Nurnberger
2 Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Ger) T-Mobile
3 Tina Pic (USA) Colavita 
       

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