Teutenberg captures fourth Liberty Classic title

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Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) won the dash to the finish line and captured a convincing fourth victory at the 16th annual Liberty Classic held in Philadelphia on Sunday. The German National Champion won the prestigious stateside event on three previous occasions; 2005, 2007 and 2009.

“It was a really close and I’m happy with this win,” Teutenberg said. “I think my favorite win was the one in 2005 because I had always rode it when it was a World Cup previously and I was always on the winning team. Winning it myself in 2005 was really special.”

Shelley Evans (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) put in a surprise attack with 300 metres to go and caught Teutenberg off guard in the final sprint. However Teutenberg wound up her sprint in pursuit of the escapee and caught her with 20 metres to spare. Evans hung on for second place ahead of Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light) in third.

“I jumped too early and that’s the bottom line, I needed more patience in the sprint,” Evans said. “I had Lauren Tamayo with me all the way to the end. But I followed my instincts and so many times that has happened to me on the road and I haven’t followed my instincts. I am very happy with the way that the team rode. I’m disappointed that I could not deliver for them today but this is an experience that I will learn from. Every time I make these mistakes I become a better rider. I walk away today having learnt something.”

Sprinters dig deep over Manayunk

Some 120 women lined Benjamin Franklin Parkway to watch the three parade laps of the Pro men’s TD Bank International Cycling Championships, 15 minutes prior to the start of their own Liberty Classic, a 92 km road race that used to boast World Cup status. The race started with lap of Logan Circle and shot out to Kelly Drive for the first of four laps of a fast 23km circuit that included the steep, 800-metre ascent over Manayunk Avenue, commonly known as The Wall.

A front group of 22 riders made it over the fourth and final climb up Manayunk Ave and over a second, smaller ascent over Lemon Hill. They rounded Logan Circle anxiously awaiting the field sprint down the wide-open Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Teutenberg took advantage of having two remaining HTC-Columbia teammates; Kim Anderson and Evelyn Stevens to control the action.

“I felt pretty good and on the last lap I thought the women were really going to go for it but I think that everyone was feeling the heat today,” Teutenberg said. “It seems like we went into the hill and even the mountain riders hit the wall. I think everyone was too hot. Other sprinters made it over the climb really well. I always had the other sprinters with me. That is why we didn’t ride it that hard to the finish because a lot of the sprinters were still there.”

Evans keyed off her lead-out woman Lauren Tamayo and jumped into a gusty headwind with 300 meters to go, leaving the remaining sprinters scrambling to catch her before the finish line. Other strong sprinters left in the field included Teutenberg, Cliff-Ryan, Brooke Miller (Tibco), Trixi Worrack (Norris Cycling Team), Kirsty Broun (Verducci Breakaway Racing)
and Carla Swart (Vera Bradley Foundation). Teutenberg got it. Just.

“As soon as we made it over the last climb up Manayunk all the sprinters were looking around and checking out which other sprinters were left in that front group,” Cliff-Ryan said. “It was hard and I was hurting really bad and I think that blew my confidence going into the sprint. I should have had a little bit more confidence but that is racing. Congratulations
to Ina for winning today.”

Australia conquers The Wall; Canadians make the breaks

Canadian time trialist, Moriah MacGregor (Specialized Mazda Samson Conseil) was the first rider to gain any significant time ahead of the peloton when she attacked at the start of the second lap. The effort earned her a 50 second advantage and the breakaway looked to be promising. As the soloist reached the base of Manayunk Ave her gap was reduced to a mere10 seconds and she was caught half way up The Wall.

Australian Road National Champion, Ruth Corset (Tibco) solidified the Queen of The Wall competition by capturing full points in all but one of the eight QOM hotspots offered; four on the steep Manayunk Wall and an additional four on the lesser Lemon Hill.

“It was the team’s goal to go for the QOMs and them work for Brooke [Miller] in the end,” Corset said. “I came to this race in good form from all the racing that we have been doing in Europe. I love the climbs and wanted to go after the jersey. Each QOM was quite hard but I felt really good today.”

Corset climbed her way onto the US professional cycling circuit last year racing for the Jazz Apple team. She quickly became noticed as one of the most talented climbers in the peloton and sign on with the US-based UCI Tibco squad.

The over heated and some-what unmotivated peloton rounded Manayunk Wall intact on each lap, twice catching breakaway riders on the steep road. Corset took advantage of the lull in the peloton to capture all four QOM points on offer with competition coming from riders Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12), Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia), Jeannie Longo (Team Colleen) and Katheryn Mattis (Webcor-Builders).

Another Canadian, Erinne Willock (Webcor-Builders) forced the second significant breakaway of the day through Strawberry Mansion on the third lap. Willock’s gap increased to one minute as she rode over Lemon Hill and through the start-finish line with one lap to go. Willock was also caught on the final climb up Manayunk Wall by a front group of 22 riders that formed over the climb.

Sinead Miller (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) captured the events Best Young Rider’s Miji Reoch presented by Fuji award. The 19-year old all rounder finished in the second group, one and half minutes behind the lead group of 22 that finished in a bunch sprint.

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