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TD Bank
Philadelphia International Championship
Press Center

2012 Information coming soon!

PRESS CONFERENCE:

Gregg Murphy of Comcast Sportsnet speaks at the 2011 TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship press conference June 3, 2011.

Mayor Nutter speeking at the press conference June 3, 2011.

 

WHAT:  Official TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship
                Kick-Off Press Conference

WHEN:  Friday, June 3 at 11 a.m.

WHERE:  TD Bank
                  121 S Broad Street (Broad & Sansom Sts.)
                  Philadelphia, PA 19107      

WHO:        Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
                   Race Officials
                   TD Bank Officials
                   Riders

Race maps: Click here

2011 TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship
Media Operations Center
PRESS ROOMS
Media Credential Pick Up Locations

TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Advance Press Room

Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel   (Logan Room)

17th & Race Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Advance Press Room Hours:

Fri., June 3: 3pm – 5 p.m.

Sat., June 4: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Race Day Press Room

Location & Hours

On the Parkway
at the Start/Finish Line
7am- 4pm

 

First event starts

9:00 AM, riders and dignitaries announced beginning at 8:30am

Last event finishes

Approx 3:00 PM

Post-Race Press Conference

On Stage at Start/Finish Line

Wireless Service/Cards Available

Yes!

Suggested Parking

On street parking or public lots.

Pro Cycling Tour
PR Team

Christine Reimert -- Press Officer
Devine + Powers

cell: 610-639-2136

creimert@devinepowers.com

Lucy MacNichol -- Press Officer

Devine + Powers

Cell: 267-884-2738

lmachnichol@devinepowers.com

 

 

Press kit:

TOP WOMEN’S TEAMS RACING INTO PHILLY FOR LIBERTY CLASSIC

Philadelphia Championship Develops, Showcases Young Talent

Top International Men to Contest Philly for 27th Year of TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship

PREVIOUS WINNERS OF PHILADELPHIA & TRIPLE CROWN RACES

FUELING RACERS FOR THE TD BANK INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

TEAM AND RIDER INFORMATION AND BIOS

FUJI IS OFFICIAL BICYCLE OF TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP

CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR RACE WEEKEND: TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP

COMCAST SPORTSNET TO AIR 2011 TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP IN HIGH -DEF

ACURA IS OFFICIAL CAR OF TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP

TOP INTERNATIONAL MEN TO CONTEST PHILLY FOR 27th YEAR OF TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP

LIBERTY CLASSIC DRAWS WORLD'S TOP WOMEN'S TEAMS TO PHILLY

BE A VIP AT THE TD BANK BIKE RACE!

TEST YOUR SPEED AT THE AMATEUR TIME TRIALS SATURDAY, JUNE 4 DURING TD BANK BIKE RACE WEEKEND

SAVE THE DATE! TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP IS JUNE 5, 2011

LESS THAN 5 WEEKS UNTIL THE TD BANK BIKE RACE – SIGN UP NOW TO VOLUNTEER!

THE 2011 WELLNESS CHALLENGE: YOUR CHANCE TO CLIMB THE INFAMOUS MANAYUNK WALL ON RACE DAY!

IT’S THE ANNUAL CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR TD BANK BIKE RACE!

SAVE THE DATE! TD BANK PHILADELPHIA INTERNATIONAL CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP IS JUNE 5, 2011

LANGUAGE OF CYCLING

PHILADELPHIA RACE FACTOIDS

TD BANK BIKE RACE FACT SHEET

 

By Mark Zalewski

For the past quarter-century, the city of Philadelphia has been home to one of the monuments of American professional cycling -- the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. This race has hosted some of the sport's greats from around the world.  It’s also played a large role in developing cycling in the United States having served as the national championship race for 20 of those years from 1985 until 2005. Names like Armstrong, Heiden, Hincapie and Phinney have all won this race, marking a significant moment in all of their professional careers. But cycling aficionados from all over the world know and revere the race in Philadelphia -- the difficulty of the course with the feared 17%-grade Manayunk Wall and the often sweltering summer temperatures combined with a star-studded field of riders makes any winner here a true champion.

It all began in 1985 when Philadelphia natives Dave Chauner and Jerry Casale took their idea of having a true U.S. national championship road race and put it in motion. "I had been running bike races for several years," said Chauner. "Jack Simes and I had run the first USPRO championship as a criterium in Baltimore. But when the TV station there didn't continue its support, we were without a pro class of racing here in the U.S. So we felt we had to make a true road race championship. We knew we had to run a real pro championship to get real pro development here."

"We went to the city  [Philadelphia] and talked to the city manager who was interested in a way to make the city look more international. We told her it was going to be a 250km race on a circuit, and she said if we could find the circuit, the city would permit it."

So Chauner and Casale set off to come up with a course that would both showcase Philadelphia as well as be comparable in difficulty to races in Europe.

"We had run races on the Ben Franklin Parkway before and along the Schuylkill River, and Manayunk was the closest place we knew where there would be challenging hills," Chauner said. "Back then it was a very industrial area but it had a European feel with the row houses -- it looked like pictures I had seen from races over there when I was growing up. We decided to take the race from the Parkway, which was made to look like the Champs Elysee in Paris, down to Main Street Manayunk to get everyone there involved. And we wanted the race to come to almost a complete stop, in order to make the climb as challenging as possible, so we had it turn under the train trestle first."

“Little did we know when we named The Manayunk Wall it would become known around the world,” Casale added.  “If you ask anyone about the Philly race, they say, oh, the one with the Manayunk Wall?”

“We also knew the only way it was going to work was with a television and radio partner, like we had in Baltimore”, Chauner said. We went to every TV station and they listened to us but were all skeptical. Finally we went to WCAU and the programming director, Gordon Hughes, was very innovative and said it was a great idea but then laughed, asking, ‘How does it work?'”

With the course set, a TV partner, and the city backing the plan, all that was left was to find the money to pull it all off. "We fortuitously ran into someone from CoreStates and out of that came a three-year deal," said Chauner. "The guys in that company were such visionaries. We signed the deal March 1 and the race was June 23 -- we put the thing on in less than three months!"

That first race in 1985 was won by an Olympic gold medalist speed skater turned professional cyclist Eric Heiden, racing for 7-Eleven team. That 7-Eleven team became the start of what we know today as American professional cycling in Europe. "The 7-Eleven team was a real backbone of American participation. That first year they were the only American team. We had a few more American pros but everyone else was from Europe. We had 76 riders in total and lo and behold Eric Heiden won it. It was all over the place -- we had a two-page spread in Sports Illustrated because of it!"

The success of American cycling in those Olympics, and the general popularity of the sport that followed with the first year of the race, is often cited as one of the initial sparks for helping American cycling get to where it is today. "This race is the archetype for a lot of racing in America. The formula we made was key to getting other of the big events off the ground," added Chauner.

Still, Philadelphia itself has always been a key part of the success of the race over the years. "We've run races in other places, such as Pittsburgh and San Francisco, but it's never been as big as it is here," said Casale. "Philadelphia has always been great, giving us support whenever we needed it as it grew and grew. I think the city and the course really complement each other. It's a city of neighborhoods and it's a perfect event for the city. It's done a lot to revitalize places like Manayunk."

What started in 1985 with a few thousand fans quickly grew over the years to more than 100,000 in the early 1990s.

Two-time Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney, who is one of America's winningest cyclists of all time, won the national championship here in 1991 near the end of his cycling career, finishing second to Italy's Paolo Cimini. But as the first American across the line, Phinney was given the U.S. champion's jersey to wear for the year -- a fitting capstone to a great career.

Over the years, the number of riders in the race increased, along with the quantity and quality of the American riders. In a way, the Philadelphia race served as an ad hoc measure of this. At the same time, the prize money increased, upping the visibility and prestige of the race on the international calendar. But in 1993, the event – then a Triple Crown series – served up an unprecedented prize opportunity -- $1 million for anyone who could win all three races, culminating in Philadelphia. Lance Armstrong, a young professional on the Motorola team and relative unknown to most people, had won the first two races and was poised to claim the $1 million, while the rest of the field was focused equally on winning the race and stopping Armstrong from that goal. Armstrong used 'The Wall' to perfection, launching a brutal attack on the last time up the climb which turned out to be the million dollar move.

In the late 1990s, the new top American team racing in Europe, U.S. Postal Service, earned a national champion here in 1998 with George Hincapie and then again the next year with Marty Jemison. The beginning of this century saw the first national championship win from 'fast Freddie Rodriguez' in a field sprint, a feat he would repeat two more times in Philadelphia to become the only three-time USPRO national champion.

2005 was the final year of the race as the USPRO championship, but was one of the most exciting. A three-rider breakaway formed during the final large lap that climbed 'The Wall.'  Even more exciting was that all three were American racers, none of whom had ever won the race before -- Chris Horner, Danny Pate and Chris Wherry. The final small loops of the course from Logan Square to Lemon Hill saw the huge crowds in a frenzy, while the three riders were playing their tactics. Just before the final climb of Lemon Hill, Wherry attacked while Pate and Horner watched each other. This proved to be the winning move as Wherry held a 10-second lead for the final three miles to the line.

Despite not serving as the USPRO championship beyond 2005, the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship has not lost any of its glory or notoriety. The top teams from around the world still accept invitations to race here and send their A-list riders to boot. Team CSC, which was consistently ranked #1 in the world for much of this decade, sent powerhouse squads. In the past few years, the year the new #1 ranked team in the world, the HTC-Columbia-High Road team, has sent its top riders, resulting in back-to-back wins in ’09 and ‘10.At the same time, the American professional teams continue to use this race as an assessment of the success of their season. And each rider will be trying to be the first across the line -- either to jump-start their career or add a top win to their resume.

What many people do not know about is the behind-the-scenes volunteers who come together each year, many coming now for 25 years, to help as marshals, motorcycle and caravan drivers, stage crew and hospitality coordinators. According to Casale, “All of these people have other day jobs – from lawyers and art directors to security specialists and homemakers. For them it is the love of the race, but it’s also about getting together every year for the biggest ‘family’ reunion they could have.”

But in the end, the race itself is something bigger than the 156 miles traveled on a bicycle.  It’s grown over the years to become part of the fabric of the city. From the party atmosphere of 'The Wall' in Manayunk and Lemon Hill to the Lifestyle Expo on the Parkway and theearly morning Wellness Challenge ride – it's Philly’s unofficial summer kick-off starring a weekend of fun and the top, international superstars of cycling.

 

2011 Team and Rider Information and Bios – Click Here.

 

 

 

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