Guarnier wins Philadelphia Cycling Classic

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Women’s WorldTour leader Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans) won the Philadelphia International Cycling Classic by a huge margin in a final sprint atop Manayunk Wall. Led out by teammate Karol-Ann Canuel, the US road champion won the sprint ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle High5) in second and Alena Amialiusik (Canyon-SRAM) in third.

"Karol-Ann was amazing and led my up the climb. It's a surprise win because I didn't expect to win today. I went with a kick at the end, and ooh la la, no one followed me," said Guarnier, who extended her WorldTour lead. "I'll defend this jersey one day at a time."

On the last lap, Allie Dragoo (Twenty16-Ridebiker) made a solo attack to distance herself from the main field. It wasn’t until she gained a healthy 20-second lead that the peloton reacted and several riders tried to attack out of the field to bridge across.

Dragoo, who won a stage at the Energiewacht Tour in similar fashion, calmly took sips from her water bottle as she pushed on her pedals over Lemon Hill and along Kelly Drive.

Lauren Stephens (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank), who was in the earlier breakaway, tried to bridge to Dragoo with Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) and Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) on her wheel.

When the field came back together, Jessica Parra (Colombia) took a flyer but was quickly joined by Amber Neben (Bepink), one of nine long-list riders for the US women’s team for the road events at the Olympic Games.

The two riders were not strong enough to hold off the entire peloton as they raced into downtown Manayunk, and they were caught by the field led by Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank. Canyon-SRAM took over the front of the peloton, followed by Canyon-SRAM and Boels-Dolmans.

Guarnier positioned herself in third wheel heading into the chicane, behind Canuel, before the base of the final climb. Canuel sprinted up the climb with Guarnier on her wheel, and set her free to sprint for the day’s victory with 150 metres to go.

How it unfolded

The stars of the Women’s WorldTour lined up at the top of Manayunk Wall prepared to take on six laps of a challenging 19.7km course for a total of 118km of racing.

An early breakaway set off with three riders that included Lauren Stephens (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank), Anna Trevisi (Ale Cipollini) and Mieke Kröger (Canyon-SRAM).

On the first trip over Manayunk Wall, Stephens took full points toward the QOM competition. Two-time Giro Rosa winner Mara Abbott (Wiggle High5) bridged across to the three leaders but Kröger struggled to stay with her companions and fell off pace. She never made it back up to the breakaway.

Abbott stormed off the front of the breakaway on the second climb over Manayunk to pick up the next set of QOM points. Although Stephens was initially gapped off on the steeper sections of the climb, she clawed herself back up to Abbott on the descent. Both riders are also on the US long list for the women’s road races at the Olympic Games in Rio in August.

The gap grew to 40 seconds on the third lap along Kelly Drive as Abbott flicked her elbow signalling to Stephens to take her fair share of pulling at the front. As Abbott and Stephens hit the base of the climb up Manayunk Wall, Breanne Nalder (Visit Dallas DNA) tried to bridge across to the pair.

On the climb for the third time, Abbott again floated and rode away from Stephens to pick up full QOM points, and Stephens once again dragged herself back up to the world-class climber.

The main field was only 30 seconds behind, as Canyon-SRAM set the pace. Nalder never made it up to the breakaway, switched for the next chaser Lindsay Bayer (Hagens Berman-Supermint). Bayer struggled just a few seconds off the back of the leaders as they approached Lemon Hill.

The field was back together at the base of the fourth time up Manayunk Wall, led by Abbott and Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare). Stephens, who settled into the field further back on the climb, got extra encouragement from a super fan wearing only American-flag-printed underwear. The man, who looked an awful lot like US racer Travis McCabe (Holowesko-Citadel), sprinted along side her for the final 150 metres of the climb.

The field bunched up after the descent as they approached Lemon Hill, in anticipation of the penultimate climb up Manayunk Wall, ahead of the last lap of the race.

Abbott continued to prove to be the strongest climber in the group as she again led the field up main climb through Manayunk to pick up full points in the QOM competition, securing the win in that category as well as the sprint category. Close behind, Stevens sat in fifth wheel, followed by Guarnier, Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) and what was left of the field.

Organisers rang the bell signifying the final lap, and much like the men’s race, the hunt for the day’s victory came down to the last lap.

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