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First Endurance riders swept the podium at the Philadelphia International Classic. Andre Griepel (Columbia-High Road) won the race, Greg Henderson (Columbia-High Road) was second and Kirk O’Bee (Bissell) finished in third place. “It was great to win here today. The team did a really nice job,” said Greipel. “We had a lot of cards to play with three sprinters and some good breakaway riders. In the end it came down to a sprint and Greg gave up his chances to lead me out. It was nice that he could take second place.
Team director Tristan Hoffmann gave full credit to the riders today. “From the car we didn’t get a lot of information on what was happening in the race but the riders did a great job. We had a very good team here so we had to take responsibility for the race. The other teams were looking at us to bring back the break and make the moves. The guys tried to get a few moves going late in the race and Edvald went in a second break which looked good for a while.” “There was a break with 60km to go,” said Boasson Hagen. “We had four guys in there but it was too big [30 riders] and it wasn’t working well. When it came back we tried again.” Boasson Hagen and his breakaway partner was close to catching the lead riders with 15km remaining in the race but the peloton was closing in and the bunch came back together. Columbia-Highroad set the pace for the last three laps through the finishing circuit and up Lemon Hill and finally set Greipel up for the win. “I’m very happy with the last few weeks of racing,” added Greipel. “I had quite a few months of racing so it’s nice to be able to return with the form to win for my team.” Greipel has won six races in the last month of racing. Philadelphia International Championship, 251.0km/156mi 1 Andre Greipel (Team Columbia - Highroad)
2 Greg Henderson (Team Columbia - Highroad)
3 Kirk O'Bee (Bissell Pro Cycling) Earlier in the day, First Endurance rider Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-High Road) won her third Liberty Classic Saturday with the help of fellow teammates who controlled the race around the 23-kilometer circuit through the streets of Philadelphia. Crediting her teammates for her 17th win this season, Teutenberg called today’s win a “full-on team victory. The girls did pretty much everything today. They worked like motorbikes throughout the race. All day we controlled the race, with Kate (Bates) and Ellen (Van Dijk) doing the early work, constantly chasing breaks. Mara (Abbott), Kim (Anderson) and Judith (Arndt) did a perfect job on the hills. Nuernberg attacked hard all day but our girls were always in control. Being up on top of everything, we could neutralize all the breaks.” The women raced at such a fast pace as to catch the men racing on the same circuit, forcing race officials to neutralize the men’s race so the women could compete uninterrupted. “Today was a bit different than usual. It was a lot more aggressive than usual, so I think everyone was tired at the end.” In today’s win, Teutenberg and three other Columbia-Highroad women were part of a 12-rider group who went clear on the last lap. The four teammates including Abbott, Anderson and Arndt worked the break to deliver Teutenberg to a long sprint finish. Teutenberg concluded, “On the last lap we really took the initiative. The other big sprinters weren’t riding too hard up on the hills, and then we took control. It was a complete team victory today.”
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