Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) beat Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) and Alena Amialiusik (Velocio Sram) yesterday on a testing uphill finish to win the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic, round 6 of the UCI Women Road World Cup.
The Boels Dolmans, Velocio Sram and Wiggle Honda teams rode smart to set up their leaders in the final kilometres, but Armitstead was strongest in the final sprint to the line and had that little bit of extra strength needed to beat Longo Borghini and Amialiusik up the dreaded Manayunk Wall.
Armitstead now also leads the UCI Women Road World Cup ranking ahead of Longo Borghini. The best young rider remains Katarzyna Niewiadima for another round.
The SufferPrize by the Sufferfest was awarded to Charlotte Becker (Hitec Products) for her amazing show of strength in today’s intermediate sprints.
Nineteen teams took the start of the 115km race which followed a 19.8km circuit along the Schuylkill River which the riders had to tackle six times. At the end of each lap stood the Manayunk Wall, an 800m urban climb with sections of over 15% gradient, a perfect spectacle for the huge crowds gathered along the roads.
The day started fast and furious with plenty of attacks from the off. The Manayunk Wall is fast and wide allowing the riders to spread out across the road.
The battle at the front was fierce with Hitec Products’ Kirsten Wild lining out the bunch on the most exposed sections of the course. And there was no trying to escape as Boels Dolmans Cycling Team, Team Tibco SVB and Wiggle Honda were chasing down any breakaway attempts.
It wasn’t until 25km into the race that Emilie Moberg (Hitec Product) followed by Beatrice Rossato (Ale Cipollini) broke clear from the bunch. Although their effort was short lived, this attack was the perfect spring board for a counter attack. It was Jasmin Glaesser (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) who surged out, as the twosome was being reeled in. She soon built up a 20s gap. Despite a few attempts from others to bridge across, only fellow Canadian Alison Jackson (Twenty 16 p/b Sho-Air) made it across. The Canadian duo was eventually caught with 50-km to go, by a strung-out peloton.
With just about 25km to go, a filled out bunch and still no winning move made, it was finally time for the teams to position their lead riders near the front of the race.
With only 100m to go, the three race favourites surged out from behind their respective lead-out trains. Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team) gritted her teeth as she beat Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle Honda) to second and Alena Amialiusik (Velocio Sram), third up “the Wall”.
Lizzie Armitstead admitted that although her winning wasn’t exactly what the team had planned, it was still the perfect outcome for a hard day’s racing:
“It was a real team effort today. Obviously we have Megan Guarnier the American Champion and Eve (Stevens) two time winner here and we really wanted to work for Eve on the final climb but it got a bit messed up so I had to think on instinct and go for the win. It wasn’t exactly to plan but at least one of us was on the podium.
“The plan was for me to go for the win as well but on the fifth lap I said to the girls, I’m not in the best shape to do this. Eve was riding around looking so easy so we decided to work for her. In the final few kilometres it didn’t work out. We’re always taught we have to ride on instinct so I went for it.
“It’s always nice to be able to race in the UCI Women Road World Cup leader’s Jersey. It’s an honour, something you only get to experience a few times in your career. I’m very proud to wear it.”
For highlights of the day including interviews, log on to the UCI YouTube channel at tv.uci.ch
Full results and standings