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Teammates scorch Philadelphia Sprint

TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship

Philadelphia, USA, June 7, 2009

2009 Champion: Andre Greipel (Ger) Columbia-Highroad 251kms (156 miles) in 6h24’04” (40.19 km/h)

André Greipel used a perfectly executed lead-out to win the 25th Philadelphia International Championship on Sunday. 

The action started early when 22-year-old National Team rider Daniel Holloway attacked at the end of the parade lap. 

The longest one-day race in the United States opened nearly six and a half hours earlier with the surprising turbo-charged start line acceleration of USA. The Californian, a multi-US national champion on the track in 2008, leapt off the start line as if the finish line was at the end of the opening one-mile parade lap, not the longest race of his career.

Another young American Andrew Talansky jumped off in pursuit of Holloway but was unable to close until the 60 miles mark of the race.

Aggressively Team Mountain Khakis’s David Guttenplan and John Ebsen (Danish National Team) escaped the peloton in pursuit of Holloway and Talansky at the end of the opening 14.4-mile large circuit. The peloton didn’t seem eager to pursue the four-rider breakaway.

For the first time in race history the 57.6-mile Liberty Classic women's peloton on the course at the same time, racing aggressively early, chopped its five-minute starting deficit and caught the lethargic men's race.  As the women passed the men's peloton a few of the women had sharp words for the neutralized men.

After the breakaway’s lead grew to over 13 minutes, but the men’s race would be released neutralization and begin to chase in earnest.  The lead began to fall quickly and the breakaway was caught with 81 miles to go.

Liquigas’ Daniel Oss, Valeriy Kobzarenko, and Tom Zirbel formed the next escape.  The trio built a 7’20” lead with 3 of the 10 large circuits to go.

Teams of the sprinters went to work.  Led by Team Columbia–Highroad the breakaway trio was caught with two short “Lemon Loops” (6 miles) to go.

The pace increased in the remaining peloton as the sprinters line-up for the finish.  Columbia’s lead-out man Greg Henderson said, “We just made sure that we had Greipel and myself up front."  Despite a crash near Logan Circle at 1 km to go, Greipel used a burst of speed over the final 200 meters of Benjamin Franklin Parkway to beat teammate Greg Henderson and Bissell's Kirk O'Bee for the prestigious Philadelphia International Championship.

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