This morning I woke up in a quiet and well-shaded room in
the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, a welcome change from the erratic and
storming events of this past weekend. Although feeling rested on Monday, my long
sleep-in today is unusual and shows just how hard the event was despite changes
in 2012. The 28th annual
Philadelphia International Championship is the most prestigious 1-day race in
North America and is the site of our team leader’s 3 National Championship
titles. This year a thunderstorm, a shortened course and peloton without
ProTour teams shook up the usual tactics of an early breakaway with a long
lease, however it didn't disappoint as aggressive racing and an exciting finish
satisfied the high standards of the local audience. So welcome back to the
inside look at Team Exergy’s racing campaign, the past month has been stacked
with dark and fast weekend criteriums and long and hot endurance midweek
training rides; but it was not in vain as we raced as a unit and forged our way
through the throngs of drunken fans on the Manayunk Wall and emerged from the
shadows of the historical statues and international flags of Kelly Drive to
deliver our sprinter Fast Freddie Rodriguez to the podium once again.
Reunited after 2 months of split squads, the stage racers
and the criterium racers mixed into one unit in preparation for Philadelphia’s
varied terrain. Although the 17% gradient of Manayunk favors the team’s
slighter climbers, our starting lineup featured riders who’ve been focussing on
fast finishes all year. 3-time US National Champion Freddie Rodriguez, who has
rediscovered great form after a strong ride at the 2012 ATOC, came over from
the stage racing squad with young sprinter Logan Loader, the ProTour Swiss
rider Noe Gianetti and Columbian strong man Andres Diaz (who found himself in a
3 man break late in 2011 only to be caught at 2km). From the criterium squad
Team Exergy started 201- early-breakaway-man Quinn Keogh, criterium-leadout-man
and 2nd place finisher at Speedweek’s Roswell GP Kevin Mullervy, 2012
Speekweek overall champion and 2008 Olympian Carlos Alzate, and myself. It was
great to have the full support of the team this weekend on and off the bike; my
favourite part was the race caravan... getting fresh bottles is nice. In
contrast, last week we raced a 2 hour, 90km criterium in Somerville, NJ under
36 degrees and 100% humidity without a feed zone...ouch, salt anyone??
The forecast for Sunday was essentially perfect, except for
a chance of rain late in the day but under sunny skies at 10am they was much
more to focus on in the meantime, like winning a bike race, than worrying about
getting wet in five hours. Due to the decreased distance and lack of ProTour
teams, (this year the field included all the D3 Professional teams and four D2
squads including Team Type 1 Pro, Champion System Pro, United Healthcare and
Spidertech p/C10) a breakaway would not get the unusual 6-10 minute lease as
seen in previous editions and it would most likely go only after a hard fight
for the first half of the race. Despite
the different field, the leadout for the Manayunk Wall was just a furious as
ever; a wall of riders charging up the four lane promenade into the quiet,
coffee-shop lined stroll of Manayunk, diving into small gaps along the
right-hand side of the group at the last moment to gain atop ten position
before the 3 tight corners leading into the 2 minute 450+ watt climb. Logan,
Quinn and I focused on Freddie’s position during this section of the lap,
making sure that he was well-placed in the leadout chaos. After the first lap
up Manayunk, the became apparent how the race would play out: split of 30-40
riders would move away on the climb each lap and eventually that group would go
clear so make sure you are at the front and climb well to guarantee a place IN
THE BIKE RACE!
Despite Kevin, Carlos, Quinn’s best attempts of covering
small 4-6 man moves in the opening 90 minutes of the race, no breakaway earned
a gap. Kevin and Quinn started to shuttle bottles on the second lap, making
sure that they had the ‘order’
correct: 1 mix for Freddie, 1 water for Diaz, a gel for....etc. Those guys did
a great job, it was like they were reading our mind’s all day. On the third
climb up Manayunk a group of 45 riders went clear with strong representation
from every team. My legs were feeling great today and even after helping in the
leadout into Manayunk, I could climb well and accelerate over the shallow top
to guarantee a good position in the bunch for the 70-80kph descent back down to
the river. And so it came as a bit of a
surprise to me when 3 Optum Health riders surged to the front to set a good
pace....there must be a gap? As it turns out six of Optum Health’s 8 starters
had made the split so Mike Creed, Tom Zirbel and Scott Zwizanski worked hard to
secure this potentially race winning move. Shortly thereafter they were joined
by one Competitive Cyclist rider and myself as Diaz provided the all-clear. So
with five riders rotating on the front the gap flirted with the magical 60
second time gap at which all the team cars would be allowed to service and the
race could essentially be over for the peloton. I felt good when working and it
was a great privilege to be helping my team leaders so directly with Freddie,
Diaz and Gianetti in the split. With the gap hovering at 55 seconds, we tackled
Manayunk for the fourth time and uninterested in pulling the 45 man rider gap
around for the next 3 hours, Optum, Competitive and Team Type 1 sent a 3 man
breakaway up the road. With a 20+ second
lead heading down the descent, Diaz motioned me back to the front and shut it
down so for the next 10km I “punched in”. Next time through Lemon Hill the 45 riders
were together once again but Jelly Belly had cut the gap to the peloton to 40
seconds with a 5 man team time trial at the front. Only 1 Champion System, 1
Optum Health (Zwizanski) and I were working at this point so leading into
Manayunk for the 5th of seven laps, the race reformed as one
peloton...damn. Oh well...time for some fresh drinks!
Immediately, Diaz made his move and went clear with four
other riders on the wall, amassing a 3 minute gap the next time through the
start finish straight. Clinton Avery (Champion System Pro, Winner of June 31st
Base Camp criterium), Thomas Rabou (Competitve Cyclist) joined him but Bobbly
Lea (Cyclesport), Scott Zwizanski (Optum Health) fell off the pace the next
time up Manayunk. Back in the peloton, Logan, Carlos and I stayed close to
Freddie as Quinn and Kevin continued to deliver large quantities of drinks,
food and even rain jackets as ominous storm clouds rolled in overhead.
Our team car went up to Diaz at this point as he was looking
strong and needed support so when Freddie flatted 2km from the base of the 6th
climb up Manayunk, it was all hands on deck. Logan stopped to give his wheel
(Mavic serviced Logan seconds later), while I pulled out to pace Freddie
through the cars. Rejoining me with 1.5 km to the climb, it was a fast sprint
through the cars and fortunately we hit a hole on the right hand side leading
into the climb and Freddie zoomed in the top ten...catastrophe averted. Logan
dished out serious watts and also made it back onto the peloton shortly thereafter.
A beastly team effort!
Final Lap up Manayunk, Freddie covers moves
United Healthcare and Team Type 1 Pro rode the front of the
group and maintained the gap at 2-3 minutes, essentially something bad would
have to happen in the peloton for the break to stay away....and guess
what...tropical rain storm! The first rainstorm in the history of the race, and
man did it pour! Approaching Manayunk
for the final of seven laps, the rain was so hard that you couldn’t see the
front of the peloton and our brakes worked slowly against our carbon wheel rims.
The pace slowed and the gap increased to the break...maybe there was hope
afterall. Fortunately though for the safety of the peloton, the sky cleared as
the sprint for the bottom of the wall started, yet the rain slicked and heavily
painted roads thwarted the nervous peloton and a large crash occurred with 100
meters before the climb on the right hand side. I went sideways three separate
times in trying to slow down but eventually a wall of bodies in front forced me
to drop the bikes and go for a slide. I don’t want to point fingers but the
team of the rider who fell had been causing problems all day and finally slipped up, so to speak. Here is a video. Unfortunately, two Spidertech riders, two United Health care riders
(including 1 of the race favourites Jake Keogh) and myself all went down;
although a few of these riders were motor-paced back into the race on the
backside of the climb, they only made it up to the gruppetto and were pro-rated
with 1 Lemon Hill lap remaining.
Up the road, Rabou stopped working in the break so Diaz and
Avery faced a heavy challenge with a 2.10 minute lead and 5 closing circuits of
Lemon Hill remaining, United HealthCare riding with Team Type 1 chasing at the
front. In the peloton, Team Exergy still had Carlos, Logan and Freddie, as the
services of the day had sapped Quinn and Kevin’s legs. I attempted to chase
over the final Manayunk climb but it was no use with the caravan gone and the
peloton in hot pursuit; I pulled out the next time through the feedzone to
clean my wounds but happy with my work earlier in the race and the sensations
on the climb.
In the finale, Diaz attacked solo with 1 Lemon Hill lap
remaining, now only twenty seconds clear of the peloton. But Rabou came back to
him and sat on him; Competitive Cyclist had its entire time on the front of the
peloton targeting a field sprint. So once again, Diaz was caught at a
heart-breaking 2km to go and the glory went to the sprinters. Navigating their
way through Logan Circle for the final time with 500 metres to go, the last of
Team Type 1’s chase effort drove it at the front with Logan and 2 United (including
race favourite Robert Forster) in toe. Unfortunately the 400 metre head wind
sprint was long and Carlos was left to battle with Team Type 1’s sprinters for
Robert Forster’s wheel. When Team Type
1’s three man train did hit it, it was an impressive show of power and Carlos
sprinted hard to get Freddie up to speed. The TT1 riders swept past the
remaining top five riders on the right side and Freddie surged into their draft
with sprinters from Optum, United, Bissell and Competitive in panic mode behind.
Heading into the final meters it looked good for a TT1 podium sweep but Freddie
was able to stick his wheel in and claim 3rd place.
Although we were close to
the win and I rue the crash that took me out of the leadout, we’ll have to take
our 3rd place finish knowing that we did a good team ride and were
still able to shut out our usual rivals in United HealthCare and the North
American D3 squads. Keep riding like we did today and more success is on the
way.
