Greipel and Henderson scorch Philadelphia finale

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André Greipel won the 25th Philadelphia International Championship on Sunday with an unmatched burst of speed over the final 200 metres of Benjamin Franklin Parkway to beat Columbia-Highroad teammate Greg Henderson and Bissell's Kirk O'Bee. It was the second win of the day for the American ProTour, who led out Ina-Yoko Teutenberg in the women's Liberty Classic.

Columbia-Highroad's pre-race plan was to deliver Germany's Greipel to the line in a field sprint. It executed the lead-out to perfection, despite confusion from a crash within the final kilometre, near Logan Circle.

"Every race we are at we are one of the best teams but that doesn't mean that we get the win easily," Greipel told Cyclingnews. "We always have to work hard and play our tactics correctly in order to win any race.

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Henderson started his sprint with 400 metres to go and Greipel went on his own in the final 200 metres. The one-two finish was an unexpected bonus.

"I caught Kirk O'Bee and passed him," Henderson told Cyclingnews. "There was no one else there and I thought, 'Well heck, I have to keep going.' One guy passed me and it was Greipel so it doesn't get much better than that."

Bissell Pro Cycling made its bid for victory and hoped to elevate sprinter Kirk O'Bee one step higher on the podium following 2008's second place.

"Frank Pipp was in front of me and things started to swarm a little so I went early around," O'Bee told Cyclingnews. "I looked up and around, and I was already off the front a little bit with 300 metres to go and so I kept going.

"We were on the outside of the crash and thankfully my teammates put me out front and got me around all that. There are crashes all the time in the last part of the race because everyone is so tired. It's better to be at the front to avoid that."

Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategy) had his team's sprinter, Alex Candelario, on his wheel within the top 10 during a right-hand turn around Logan Circle. The duo was attempting to come around the lead-out train of Planet Energy when Mumford glanced back to make sure Candelario was on his wheel. At the same time, a Planet Energy rider moved over taking out Mumford's front wheel and sent Mumford and a handful of others to the asphalt.

A long day

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 National Team rider Daniel Holloway. The 22-year-old 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.

"I didn't plan to go in the first 200 metres, I went off the line like I normally would [in a criterium]," said Holloway. "I heard I had a gap so I started picking it up and then I went out for the long haul."

Another young American, 20-year-old Andrew Talansky (Amore & Vita), set off in pursuit of Holloway on the opening one-mile parade lap, but was unable to join until nearly 60 miles and three ascents of the Manayunk Wall were ridden alone by each rider.

Another aggressively-minded duo, David Guttenplan (Team Mountain Khakis) 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 showed no sense of urgency in its pursuit of the four escapees.

The women's peloton racing concurrently in the 57.6-mile Liberty Classic chopped its five-minute starting deficit to the men's race. For the first time in race history, with approximately 21 miles left in the Liberty Classic, the women caught and passed the men's peloton, neutralising the men in the process until the women's event finished.

Probably the only man on course wishing to be neutralised was race leader Holloway, but his stint off the front was only further extended since the four leaders still had the green light to race.

"I could see that my gap was opening and that the women were so close to the men's field," said Holloway. "I didn't worry about it. I was hoping to get neutralised so I could relax and stretch but they neutralised the men's field and not me."

Holloway's lead ballooned to over 13 minutes in front of the neutralised men's peloton and the ample cushion enabled the young sprinter to weave his way up the Manayunk Wall at his leisure to the raucous applause of "USA! USA!" inspired by his US National Team kit. Elsewhere on the parcours, Holloway frequently unclipped from the pedals to stretch his legs, which were beginning to feel the effects of his lengthy sojourn in the race lead.

Holloway found some relief once Talansky finally made contact as they concluded their third lap. The duo completed another full circuit encompassing the out and back trip to Manayunk along Kelly Drive.

Once the peloton was un-neutralised, they quickly got down to the business of absorbing the two pairs of riders.

Phase two

Phase two to the men's race unfolded as a powerful trio – Daniel Oss (Liquigas), Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1)and Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling) – attacked just prior to Holloway being absorbed at nearly 81 miles remaining.

Oss, Kobzarenko and Zirbel, sharing the work equally, found themselves 7:20 ahead of the field after the completion of the seventh of 10 large circuits, or 103.8 miles. The three riders would prove to be a challenge for the sprinters' teams to bring back, but the unrepresented ProTour squads stamped their authority on the race, capturing Oss, the last of the original trio, with six miles and two of the closing short laps to go.

"I think getting neutralised when we did just meant that we had to rethink our tactics a bit," said Henderson. "We wanted to make the group a little bit smaller at the finish so we went hard on the last time up the climb. There were too many other teams who missed the break, however. From then on it looked like it was going to be a sprint from two laps out. We just made sure that we had Greipel and myself up front."

Several other teams with sprinters – Liquigas, Fuji-Servetto, Colavita Sutter Home and Planet Energy – all attempted to counter the Columbia's effort on each of the remaining three-mile short laps, but the team's speed proved too much inside the final kilometre.

Bissell was one of the teams able to sit back in the during the chase thanks to Zirbel's presence in the break.

"Tom [Zirbel] being off the front took pressure off us," said O'Bee. "Columbia controlled the front at the end and my teammates helped try to keep me at the front behind them, but I just went a little too early."