Coming off of a fractured hip suffered in March, Health Net-Maxxis sprinter Greg Henderson showed the domestic peloton that he’s back with a vengeance in Reading, Pennsylvania, Thursday, easily winning the Reading Classic, the second leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown, out of a 10-man group ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) and Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF).

Henderson, the 2004 world scratch-race champion from Dunedin, New Zealand, chose to race at the Mt. Hood Classic stage race last week, helping teammate Nathan O’Neill take the overall win, rather than return to defend his title in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, last Sunday. Henderson said it was a tough choice, but the right one.

Henderson came out of Mt. Hood feeling strong

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

"I needed hard racing in my legs," he said. "I would have loved to have been in Lancaster, but in Oregon I rode at the front for Nathan and Scott [Moninger]. And I did some training, mate, believe me. I did some training. I’ve got a good group of guys to train with in Boulder, Colorado, and I just trained and trained and trained."

In 2005 Health Net-Maxxis swept the three races known as Philly Week, with Henderson winning in Lancaster, Gord Fraser winning in Trenton, New Jersey, and Chris Wherry taking the national title at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. With the change in sponsorship from Wachovia to Commerce Bank, the Trenton race was replaced by Reading, thus the all-Pennsylvania Triple Crown. No Health Net rider finished in the top 10 in Lancaster on Sunday, but in Reading, Kirk O’Bee finished in fourth place, showing promise for Health Net for Sunday’s 156-mile Philadelphia International Championship.

Coming off of a third-place finish in Sunday's Lancaster Classic, Lagutin, the Uzbekistan national champion, stepped it up in Reading, moving up to the second step of the podium. Lagutin now leads the Triple Crown standings with 88 points to Henderson’s 80, with Jackson Stewart, the winner in Lancaster, also with 80 points. The winner of the series takes a $10,000 cash prize; in addition, the rider with the most points accumulated in the pro men’s field after the three events will drive away in a new Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV.

Earlier in the day, T-Mobile’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg won a 25-mile women's criterium, bridging to breakaway Katharine Carroll (Victory Brewing) mid-race and then easily taking the victory. Rochelle Gilmore (Advil-Chapstick) took the bunch sprint for third. Teutenberg, the winner in Lancaster Sunday — and also the defending champion at this coming Sunday’s Liberty Classic — leads the series, with 80 points, ahead of Gina Grain (Colavita-Cooking Light), who has 34 points. The winner of the women’s series takes a $5000 prize; a total of $29,000 is up for grabs for the women during the week.

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Two-man breakaway
Raindrops fell at the start — and immediately after the finish — of the men’s 75-mile race, but the dark clouds overhead held off in between, allowing the racers to navigate the technical corners of historic downtown Reading in relative safety.

The course dished up 10 laps on a 6.9-mile circuit, with an additional 1.79-mile trek up Mount Penn added to the final lap, rising 400 feet before a fast descent that flattened less than two miles from the finish line. Pre-race guesses were that a group of no more than 30 riders would finish together.

"It’s like Trenton, with a hill," commented TIAA-CREF team director Jonathan Vaughters, drawing a comparison between the urban, working-class neighborhoods in Reading and the course it replaced around New Jersey’s state capital. "Today’s course was very technical, with a lot of bumps and corners."

Early attempts to break away were thwarted time and again, keeping the pace high and the field frustrated. The first move of note came from TIAA-CREF sprinter Brad Huff nine miles into the race. As he did at last weekend’s CSC Invitational, Huff attacked and went away solo. But unlike in Arlington, Virginia, no other riders bridged across to join him, and though his gap extended to 22 seconds, he was reeled in by the start of the third lap.

TIAA-CREF continued to animate the race, with Rahsaan Bahati and Chad Hartley both attacking or joining moves, but it wasn’t until mile 35 that a breakaway of 20 riders finally got away.

In the group were Heath Blackgrove, Tony Cruz and J.J. Haedo (Toyota-United); Gord Fraser and Kyle Gritters (Health Net-Maxxis); Jonathan Page and Todd Herriott (Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home), Yovanny Torres (Colombian National); Lars Michaelsen (CSC); Andy Bajadali, Kirk Albers and Matty Rice (Jelly Belly); Robbie King (Priority Health); Valeriy Kobzarenko (Navigators); Bill Elliston (Target Training); and Chad Hartley and Mike Friedman (TIAA-CREF).

As the gap to the field stabilized at 35 seconds, Kobzarenko attacked his breakaway companions and was soon joined by five others. But with the remainder of the break closing the gap to the leaders, Kobzarenko, also an animator in Lancaster on Sunday, counterattacked, gaining 10 seconds, and this time only Bajadali could follow.

The pair quickly established a gap of 35 seconds to the main break, extending the gap to 1:20 with two laps remaining before the chase, driven by Health Net, CSC, Colavita-Sutter Home and Toyota-United, finally started to reel them in.

By the time the final lap had started, the lead was under a minute, and with 6 km to go, the peloton had them in their sights. One kilometer later, the two breakaway companions sat up, shook hands and rejoined the bunch as the climb up Mount Penn approached. From there, it was a fight to line up for the climb.

Up and over Mount Penn
Coming out of a hairpin turn, Lagutin attacked hard on the climb’s 12-percent grade and immediately opened a gap of 12 seconds. "Once CSC, Toyota and Health Net chased down Kobzarenko, I waited until the hill to attack," Lagutin said. "I wanted to win alone."

CSC’s Matti Breschel bridged across to Lagutin but quickly dropped off the pace; passing Breschel to get to Lagutin were Wherry, Facci Mauro (Barloworld) and Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF). Notable riders dropped on the final climb included Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic and Ivan Dominguez; Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada’s Jackson Stewart, Jesse Anthony and Ben Jacques-Maynes; TIAA-CREF’s Taylor Tolleson; and CSC’s Andrea Peron.

Henderson went over the top in fifth position with Breschel right behind him, 14 seconds behind the leaders. "We chased hard on the descent, and right as we were about to catch the front group, another group caught us," Henderson said. In that group was Jelly Belly’s Caleb Manion, Navigators’ Mark Walters, Colombia’s Jairo Hernandez and O’Bee. The three groups merged with about 1 km remaining to form a select group of 10 riders that would contest the sprint.

Lagutin said cat-and-mouse tactics doomed the four-man break that had reached the summit first. "Only Wherry and I would work," he said. "The other two were sitting on. That allowed Henderson to come back on."

Henderson said he knew his chances were good as he made the catch in the final kilometer. "I could see Chris Wherry up around the turn, seeing me, and I raced with him last year so I knew he wouldn't want me up there," Henderson said. "Danny was the same, I've raced with him and he wouldn't want me up in the front."

With 500 meters to go, Breschel attacked and was reeled in, followed by Wherry and then Lagutin. Pate made a move that nearly blocked Henderson, but the Kiwi was the first rider through the final right-hand turn with 150 meters remaining.

"I started to go, but Pate came up on my left and I had to wait for him to get past me," Henderson explained. "I thought it would be too late, but I got on Pate’s wheel, and then I went with about 200 meters to go and passed him before the last corner. It was basically every man for himself. There was no coordination [with teammate O’Bee.]"

"I turned myself inside out," Henderson said. "I’d hate to see my wattage. I was at the high 400s all the way up [the climb]. I’ve been doing some climbing in Boulder, and when you come down to sea level it’s good for you."

Henderson had time to look over his shoulder at the line; his winning average speed was 26.76 mph.

Teutenberg gets away
It’s no secret that Ina Teutenberg can sprint, but the stocky German hardly needed to unleash her speed after the peloton allowed her to get away halfway through the women’s 25-mile criterium. Though the 1.8-mile course was billed as a criterium, it was longer, and more rolling, than the four-corner course that the women encountered last Sunday in Lancaster.

Ina makes these things look easy

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Curiously absent from the women’s race finale was NRC points leader Tina Pic (Colavita-Cooking Light). Pic, the recent winner of the June 3 CSC Invitational, the May 29 Tour of Somerville and the May 27 Bike Jam, was spotted at the start/finish area with her bike and wearing full team kit. Though Pic is listed as a DNF in the results, Colavita team director Jim Williams said she didn’t start the race in order to save her legs for Sunday’s Liberty Classic.

"Tina just didn’t race today," he said. "There’s nothing to write about. She’s had a hard go of it the last several races. We held her out so she can get charged up and ready for Philly. We’re just trying to keep her fresh. We felt it better to rest her up and get her ready. She’ll be flying at Philly." Pic did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Anther notable absentee was 2004 world road champion Judith Arndt (T-Mobile). Arndt, however, wasn’t spotted at the start/finish area in full team kit.

With 10 laps remaining, Carroll attacked and went away uncontested on the backside of the course. Not long after, Teutenberg bridged across. An attempt by a few riders to follow Teutenberg was thwarted when Annette Beutler (Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings) botched a corner, allowing the German’s gap to expand.

"They told me over the radio that Ina was coming up to me. Any time you hear Ina’s coming, you just kind of dig in, because she’s known to catch a break and then blow straight by," Carroll said. "She did blow by me. It took me about a lap to get on her wheel. I don’t know what made her finally sit up and work with me."

But Teutenberg said she never intended to leave Carroll alone. "She was out and I jumped to her," Teutenberg said. "I just wanted to keep the pressure on. She had a little gap, but I didn’t try to drop her. It would have been stupid to try and go away by myself, because then Victory Brewing would have chased me back. I never would have made it by myself. I was hoping she’d jump straight on, but I was a little fast. She’d been out there, so she was a little tired."

With Pic absent and the race’s best sprinter up the road, the leaders’ advantage stretched from 20 to 30 seconds while the race behind became a contest for third place. As expected, Teutenberg easily beat Carroll to the line. The field sprint for third was a tight battle between local favorite Laura Van Gilder (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.

"I don’t know, Ina was up the road, a couple of teams attempted to chase early, but they sort of gave up and decided they were racing for third," Lipton’s Laura Van Gilder said. "I was trying to get across, but it wasn’t happening. It’s a wide-open course, not super technical. It was windy. It was a lot to bring back."

The Commerce Bank Triple Crown Series continues Sunday with the 156-mile Philadelphia International Championship and the 56-mile Liberty Classic.

Commerce Bank Reading Classic
Men
1. Greg Henderson, Health Net-Maxxis, 75mi in 2:52:37
2. Sergey Lagutin, Navigators Insurance, s.t.
3. Danny Pate, TIAA-CREF, s.t.
4. Kirk O'Bee, Health Net-Maxxis, s.t.
5. Facci Mauro, Barloworld, s.t.
6. Caleb Manion, Jelly Belly, s.t.
7. Matti Breschel, CSC, s.t.
8. Chris Wherry, Toyota-United, s.t.
9. Jairo Hernandez, Colombian National T, s.t.
10. Mark Walters, Navigators Insurance, s.t.

Women
1. Ina Teutenberg, T-Mobile, 25mi in 59:25
2. Katharine Carroll, Victory Brewing, s.t.
3. Rochelle Gilmore, Advil-Chapstick, 59:46, @, 21
4. Laura Van Gilder, Team Lipton, s.t.
5. Laura Yoisten, Victory Brewing, s.t.
6. Brenda Lyons, Victory Brewing, s.t.
7. Gina Grain, Colavita-Cooking Light, s.t.
8. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Verducci-Breakaway, s.t.
9. Rebecca Larson, Tri-State Velo-Amoro, s.t.
10. Annette Beutler, Aaron's Pro Women's, s.t.

PCT Standings After Commerce Bank Reading Classic
Men
1. Sergey Lagutin (Navigators), 88pts
2. Jackson Stewart (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada), 80
2. Greg Henderson (Health Net-Maxxis), 80
4. Juan Jose Haedo (Toyota United), 56
5. Danny Pate (TIAA-CREF), 48
6. Hilton Clarke (Navigators), 24
6. Kirk O'Bee (Health Net-Maxxis), 24
8. Richard Faltus (Sparkasse), 20
8. Facci Mauro (Barloworld), 20
10. Caleb Manion (Jelly Belly), 16

Women
1. Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile), 80pts
2. Gina Grain (Colavita-Cooking Light), 34
3. Katharine Carroll (Victory Brewing), 28
4. Laura Van Gilder (Team Lipton), 16
5. Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci Breakaway), 16
6. Laura Yoisten (Victory Brewing), 16
7. Rochelle Gilmore (Advil-Chapstick), 16
8. Shannon Hutchison-Krupat (Aaron’s), 12
9. Laura Van Gilder (Team Lipton), 12
10. Brenda Lyons (Victory Brewing), 8