Since 1985, the image of an international peloton charging up Philadelphia’s Manayunk Wall, with a healthy prize list and a USPRO national title on the line, has become woven into the fabric of the national road-racing community. But in 2005 the event ran up against multiple walls of another sort, including the loss of its national-title status, the departure of its title sponsor and financial troubles with its organizer, Threshold Sports.

Originally sponsored by regional bank CoreStates, the title sponsor behind the Philadelphia event evolved over the years, from CoreStates to First Union to Wachovia as the bank changed ownership through acquisitions and mergers. However, the 156-mile course, and the event’s stature as the biggest one-day race in the U.S., remained constant. Another fixture was Pennsylvania-based race-management company Threshold Sports, led by CEO David Chauner and partners Jerry Casale and Jack Simes, who collectively conceived of the event 21 years ago. A concurrent women’s race, the Liberty Classic, was added in 1994 and for years doubled as a World Cup event.

But by all accounts, 2005 was a tough year for Threshold’s staff. In May of last year, the company announced it was postponing the 3-year-old New York City Challenge due to lack of sponsorship. Then Wachovia announced that, after 21 years, it would not renew its Philly Week sponsorship. Whispers about the future of the series became an uproar in Philadelphia last June, as USA Cycling acknowledged that it would revamp its national road championship format to include a field composed solely of U.S. citizens.

This year, the men’s and women’s races have returned, under the title sponsorship of Commerce Bank. The men’s race has changed its name to the Philadelphia International Championship, the anchor event of the three-race Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, while the women’s race returns as the Liberty Classic. The two other events in the series were held over the past week in Lancaster and Reading, Pennsylvania. The women’s peloton raced 25-mile circuits in Lancaster and Reading 8 beforehand, on courses using the same start/finish line as the pro men’s circuit races held later that day.

The last time Philadelphia hosted the final leg of a cycling Triple Crown was in 1993, when the series consisted of the 112-mile Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh, the six-day Kmart West Virginia Classic stage race and the ninth running of what was then the CoreStates USPRO Championship. A young Lance Armstrong scored the hat trick, taking all three races and its $1 million winner-take-all bonus.

Series prizes are more modest this time around, based not solely on wins but on the top-ranked rider over the three events. The total purse for all individual placings in the three-event series, including the pair of women’s 25-mile criteriums in Lancaster and Reading, is $138,600, with an additional $10,000 for a men’s triple-crown winner and $5000 for the women’s triple-crown winner. The winner of the men’s race will also drive away in a new Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV.

And so, with sunshine and temperatures in the mid-70s forecast for Sunday’s race, the city of Philadelphia is once again preparing for the 22nd running of its marquee cycling event. The 14.4-mile circuit begins and ends on Benjamin Franklin Parkway near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and makes its way through Kelly Drive before approaching the Manayunk community and the 17-percent grade Manayunk Wall. Men will race 10 laps on the main circuit before three laps around a 3-mile finishing circuit; women will race four laps over the 14.4-mile circuit

T-Mobile shaken
The biggest news at the race’s host hotel on Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Saturday concerned T-Mobile’s German stars Judith Arndt and defending Liberty Cup champion Ina Teutenberg, who collided with a car on the streets of Philadelphia Saturday morning while training.

Teutenberg was unharmed, although Arndt, the 2004 world road champion and Olympic road-race silver medalist, required a trip to a local hospital, which revealed a broken pinky finger. Both will start on Sunday.

“It wasn’t that bad of an accident,” Teutenberg said. “Luckily, the woman that hit us wasn’t going too fast. It sucks for Judith, but she’ll be there.”

Teutenberg won in both Lancaster and Reading, and is a heavy favorite for a repeat win in Philadelphia, bolstered by Arndt. “You know Ina – she’s more pissed off than anything,” said T-Mobile’s Kimberly Baldwin. “If anything, she’s probably more fired up now than before.”

T-Mobile’s strongest competition will likely come from Equipe Nürnberger-Versicherung’s duo of Aussie Kate Bates and Regina Schleicher, the current world road champ and 2005 Liberty Classic runner up.

The biggest American favorite is current NRC leader Tina Pic (Colavita Olive Oil-Cooking Light), the recent winner of the June 3 CSC Invitational, the May 29 Tour of Somerville and the May 27 Bike Jam. A strong Colavita squad containing Gina Grain, Sue Palmer-Komar and Kiwi Melissa Holt will support Pic and all are potential winners. Though Pic was curiously absent from Thursday’s race in Reading, Colavita team director Jim Williams said it was strictly for rest.

"Tina’s had a hard go of it the last several races," he said. "We held her out so she could 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."

Other than Colavita, the strongest American women’s teams in the race will be Victory Brewing, led by Brit Rachel Heal; Webcor-Platinum, led by U.S. Olympian Christine Thorburn, national road champ Kathryn Curi and rising Canadian Erinne Willock; and Lipton, led by U.S. Olympian Kristin Armstrong, Grace Fleury and sprinter Laura Van Gilder.

Other women to watch for include 2004 Olympic individual-pursuit silver medalist Katie Mactier of Australia (Argon 18-Champion Systems); 2004 Olympic individual-pursuit gold medalist Sarah Ulmer of New Zealand (Jazz Apple); Australian Rochelle Gilmore (Advil-Chapstick), the winner of the 2005 Geelong World Cup event and also the winner of the field sprint for third place in Reading; New Zealand National Team’s Joanne Kiesanowski; Canadian veteran Anne Samplonius (Biovail); and Swiss rider Annette Beutler (Aaron’s Corporate Furnishings).

"If we let T-Mobile come beat up on us, they will," said Victory Brewing team director Mike Tamayo, before the news of Teutenberg and Arndt’s crash, speaking on behalf of the North American women’s peloton. "If we look in awe at Ina and Judith, we don’t have a chance. We have to look at it as they are coming to our home ground. If we take control of the race we can give them a big run for the money."

No jersey, but plenty on the line
The dynamics of the men’s race will change considerably in the absence of a national champion’s jersey awarded to the top American finisher. Perhaps because of the lack of a national title, Discovery Channel did not send a team to Philadelphia. Neither did Davitamon-Lotto, the team of Chris Horner, racing at the Dauphiné Libéré, and former winners Fred Rodriguez and Henk Vogels.

“Without all the ProTour teams here, things could change considerably,” said Kiwi Glen Mitchell (Priority Health). “I’ve watched the way Freddie Rodriguez has raced here in the past, where he’s just let the break go and didn’t work hard until the last few laps. But without a Davitamon-Lotto or the other big teams, the teams that are here may not have the horsepower to bring back a strong breakaway. It will be interesting to see what gets away and who’s left to chase it down.”

The sole ProTour team in Philadelphia is CSC, which came across the pond primarily to appease its North American sponsor. Though former Philadelphia resident Bobby Julich raced in Lancaster, he has resumed his Tour de France training and will not race on Sunday. Neither will Americans Dave Zabriskie, who is at the Dauphiné, or Christian Vande Velde, who is racing at the Tour of Switzerland. CSC’s best rider over the past two weeks in the United States has been Matti Breschel, who finished seventh in Reading. Breschel, 21, is recently returning from two fractured vertebra suffered in a crash with Robbie McEwen at the Driedaagse van West-Vlaanderen.

"I think Breschel was the only [CSC] guy to finish in Arlington [at the CSC Invitational]," said Health Net-Maxxis team director Jeff Corbett. "He was riding solid at Lancaster. He’s got good legs. We’re definitely not going to discount him."

In 2005 Health Net-Maxxis swept the three races known as Philly Week, with Kiwi Greg Henderson winning in Lancaster, Canadian Gord Fraser winning in Trenton, New Jersey, and Chris Wherry taking the national title at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. No Health Net rider finished in the top 10 in Lancaster on Sunday, but Henderson easily took the bunch sprint in Reading, while Kirk O'Bee finished in fourth place, showing promise for Sunday's 156-mile Philadelphia International Championship. Henderson finished ninth in Philly last year,

"Greg is going great," Corbett said. "The fact that in the last seven days he won two stages at the Mt. Hood Classic, although he was disqualified in one, and he rode strongly defending [Nathan O’Neill’s] lead, and then he comes out here and wins one — it says a lot."

NRC standings leader Nathan O’Neill will not race Sunday. "Nathan’s had a pretty full plate already," Corbett said. "We still have stage races on the schedule for the summer to be good at. These kind of one-day races are not his bread and butter, similar to [Scott] Moninger. We had enough guys to run without Nathan, so he can save his gas for Nature Valley Grand Prix."

Another Health Net rider that will be watched closely is American Kirk O’Bee. O’Bee took fourth in Reading and finished fifth last year in Philadelphia. In 2004, he was the second American across the line in Philly, losing the stars-and-stripes jersey to Saturn’s Mark McCormack, who now rides with Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home.

"O’Bee was fourth the other day, and he was in that move in Lancaster that stayed out there and had the potential to win the race," Corbett said. "That bodes well, paired up with last days of our European trip, where he was really flying. He’s finished in the top 10 [in Philadelphia] on a few occasions, so he’s got the experience." Other Health Net riders sure to figure in the race are Fraser, Aussie Karl Menzies and American Jeff Louder. Team riders Tim Johnson and Mike Jones will likely ride in support roles.

When defending champion Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) rolls up to the start line on Sunday, he will be the first rider to start the race in Philadelphia wearing the national champion’s stars-and-stripes jersey. Wherry has spent much of the 2006 season sidelined by an intestinal parasite, but in Reading he showed the form that won him the USPRO race last year, making the lead group over the tough Mount Penn climb and battling for the win in the final meters.

"Wherry’s form kind of surprised me in Reading," Corbett said. "He kind of came out of nowhere. He wasn’t that good at the CSC Invitational, or even at Lancaster."

While Wherry’s teammate J.J. Haedo dropped off the pace during the final lap in Reading, perhaps fatigued after a strong spring showing at the Amgen Tour of California and the Ford Tour de Georgia, Corbett said Toyota-United holds plenty of cards, including Tony Cruz, Ivan Dominguez, and Corbett’s personal danger man, Ivan Stevic.

"The guy I think has been the strongest over the past two weeks is Stevic," Corbett said. "Even though the results haven’t fallen for him, at Tri-Peaks and CapTech and CSC and Lancaster he’s been the strongest guy. He was trapped at CapTech, he had a two-on-one with Navigators, but he is one of the big danger men."

Corbett said other teams to watch include Navigators Insurance, Jelly Belly and TIAA-CREF.

"Navigators has been flying," Corbett said. "Obviously Sergey Lagutin is dangerous, with second in Reading, third in Lancaster and second at CapTech. Valeriy Kobzarenko is riding amazing, Mark Walters is riding great, Hilton Clarke is riding great. They had five of the top 10 at CapTech. They’ve got the form and they’ve got one of the deepest squads. They’ve timed it really well — everyone is really firing right now. It seems like they just missed it last year — they were not as powerful at Philly but at Tour de Beauce a week later everyone was flying."

Jelly Belly also has some firepower, Corbett continued. "Caleb Manion [sixth in Reading] is the obvious guy, but Andy Bajadali was impressive in the breakaway in Reading, and you can never count out Alex Candelario. That team is stacked."

Corbett said the team that has surprised him the most in the past two weeks of domestic racing is the developmental TIAA-CREF squad, which he said appears to have, well, developed.

"The results haven’t fallen for them, but TIAA-CREF have been riding out of their heads," Corbett said. "Danny Pate [third in Reading] is riding great. Brad Huff is riding great, he was super impressive at the CSC Invitational with that long breakaway. And the Quebecois kid, Francois Parisien, is also riding solid."

One team Corbett failed to mention is the Colavita Olive Oil squad of 2004 national champ Mark McCormack. The team has been on a roll lately, with Davide Frattini taking the win at CapTech, McCormack taking the win at the CSC Invitational and Kyle Wamsley taking a win at the Baltimore Bike Jam criterium and a second place at the May 29 Tour of Somerville behind Haedo.

Other teams that are expected to factor in the race are Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada, led by Ben Jacques-Maynes and Lancaster winner Jackson Stewart; Priority Health, led by Brent Bookwalter, Glen Mitchell, Tom Zirbel and Australian national criterium champ Richard England; and Target Training, led by Frank Pipp, Alejandro Acton and Matt Shriver.

Still, in the end Corbett said experience counts a lot in a long, hard race like Philadelphia.

"This race is a little more selective being so long, so I’ve gotta go towards guys who have more history, somebody like Pate or Wherry, guys who have a history of doing well here."

PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
PHILADELPHIA, PA
SUNDAY, JUNE 11
START TIME: 9 a.m.
PURSE: $59,500
DISTANCE: 156 miles (250 km)
PREVIOUS WINNER: Chris Wherry, Health Net-Maxxis, in 6:01:16
OVERVIEW: The newly named Commerce Bank Philadelphia International Championship celebrates its 22nd year of international racing in Philadelphia. The 14.4-mile circuit begins and ends on Benjamin Franklin Parkway near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and makes its way through Kelly Drive before approaching the Manayunk community and the 17-percent grade Manayunk Wall each lap.

LIBERTY CLASSIC (WOMEN’S RACE)
PHILADELPHIA, PA
SUNDAY, JUNE 11
START TIME: 9:10 a.m.
PURSE: $25,000
DISTANCE: 57.6 miles (90.56km)
PREVIOUS WINNER: Ina Teutenberg, T-Mobile, in 2:24:47
OVERVIEW: More than 100 elite, international women are expected to compete in the 11th annual Liberty Classic, which begins 10 minutes after the start of the men’s race. The course consists of four laps of the 14.4-mile circuit through Philadelphia.

MEN’S TEAMS
AEG Toshiba-JetNetwork Pro Cycling Team
Barloworld Pro Cycling Team (Great Britain)
Caico Cycling Team (Puerto Rico)
Calyon-Litespeed (Canada)
Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home Wines Cycling Team
Columbian National Team (Columbia)
Health Net presented by Maxxis
Jelly Belly Cycling Team
Jittery Joe's - Zero Gravity Pro Cycling Team
Kodak Gallery.com-Sierra Nevada Cycing Team
Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
Nerac-Outdoorlights.com Cycling Team
Netherlands National Team
Priority Health Cycling Team
Rite Aid Pro Cycling
Successfulliving.com Cycling Team
Target Training Cycling Team
Team CSC (Denmark)
Team Monex
Team Sparkasse (Germany)
TIAA-CREF Cycling Team
Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team
VMG Racing Team

WOMEN’S TEAMS
Aaron's Cycling Team
ADG-Joe's Bike Shop
Argon-Champion Cycling Team
Amoroso's Racing Team
Bike NZ (New Zealand)
Biovail (Canada)
Cheerwine
Colavita-Cooking Light
CRCA-Comedy Central-New Canaan Cyclery
East Coast Velo
Team Nuernberger Vershcherung (Germany)
HPC-List
Hub Racing
Independent Fabrication
Jazz Apple Cycling Team (New Zealand)
Team Advil-Chapstick
Team Fuji-Bolt Brothers
Team Lipton
T-Mobile
TravelGirl Magazine-BMW-Bianchi
TRIA
Verducci-Breakaway Racing
Victory Brewing Cycling Team
Webcor-Platinum Cycling Team

COMMERCE BANK TRIPLE CROWN OF CYCLING STANDINGS
The results for the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling have been re-tabulated following the second round in Reading. In accordance with the rule stating a rider must start all three Triple Crown races to be eligible for the overall prize of $10,000 and a new Mercury Mariner Hybrid SUV for the pro men and $5000 for the pro/elite women, the current standings in these competitions have been updated after initially published incorrectly.

Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance) of Uzbekistan still leads the classification awarded to the most consistent rider in all three Commerce Bank Triple Crown races. Jackson Stewart trails Lagutin by eight points followed by Juan Jose Haedo (Toyota-United).

In the pro women’s competition Ina Teutenberg (T-Mobile) has a commanding lead with a perfect 80 points. Gina Grain (Colavita-Cooking Light) follows in second; tied for third with 28 points are Laura Van Gilder (Lipton) and Katherine Carroll (Victory Brewing).

Standings after Commerce Bank Reading Classic
Men
1. Sergey Lagutin (Uzb), Navigators Insurance, 88pts
2. Jackson Stewart (USA), Kodak Sierra Nevada, 80
3. Juan Jose Haedo (Arg), Toyota-United Usa, 56
4. Danny Pate (USA), TIAA CREF, 48
5t. Hilton Clarke (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 24
5t. Kirk O'Bee (USA), Health Net-Maxxis, 24
7t. Facci Mauro (I) Barloworld, 20
7t. Richard Faltus (Cze), Parkasse Ger, 20
9. Caleb Manion (Aus), Jelly Belly, 16
10t. Matti Breschel (Den),Team Csc, 12
10t. Emile Abraham (Tri), Aeg-Toshiba-Jetnetwork, 12
12. Mark Walters (Can), Navigators Insurance, 11
13t. Chris Wherry (USA), Toyota-United, 8
13t. Alex Candelario (USA), Jelly Belly, 8
15t. Mark Mccormack (USA), Colavita-Sutter Home, 7
15t. Jairo Hernndez (Col) Columbia Es Pasion Columbia, 7
17. Ben Brooks (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 6
18. Antonio Cruz (USA), Toyota-United, 5
19t. Igor Astarloa (Sp), Barloworld, 3
19t. Trent Wilson (Aus), Jittery Joe's, 3

Women
1, Ina Teutenberg (G), T-Mobile, 80pts
2, Gina Grain (USA), Colavita Cooking Light, 34
3t, Katharine Carroll (USA), Victory Brewing Cycling Team, 28
3t, Laura Van Gilder (USA), Team Lipton, 28
4t, Theresa Cliff-Ryan (USA), Verducci Breakaway Racing, 16
4t, Laura Yoisten (USA), Victory Brewing Cycling Team, 16
4t, Brenda Lyons (USA), Victory Brewing, 16
8, Shannon Hutchison-Krupat (USA), Aaron's Usa, 12
9, Annette Beutler (USA), Aaron's Usa, 7
10, Rebecca Larson (USA), Tri State Velo Amoroso, 4
11t, Tina Pic (USA), Colavita Cooking Light, 3
11t, Lara Kroepsch (USA), Team Lipton, 3
13, Rachel Heal (USA), Victory Brewing Cycling Team, 2
14, Megan Esmonde (USA), Travelgirl Magazine, 1