Stage winners from the Tour de France, Tour of California, Giro d’Italia and more, plus national road race and time trial champions, Olympic champs, and some of cycling’s most promising, young talent will all roll to the start line in Philadelphia on Sunday, June 5 to contest one of the sport’s most epic race courses.  The TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship, the 14.4 mile circuit complete with the grueling Manayunk Wall, will again play host to the world’s best professional men who, after logging 156 miles, will hope to add Philly to their list of victories.

The TD Bank race is already in the win column for returning champs Team HTC-Highroad.  The world’s most winning cycling team will work to defend its 2010 and 2009 first place titles with riders like Irish national road race champ, Matt Brammeier; 22-year-old American phenom, Tejay Van Garderen, a 10-time U.S. national champion who is just coming off his role as team leader for the Tour of California, where he earned the Best Young Rider jersey; and Alex Rasmussen (DEN), a four-time world track champion and Olympic track silver medalist.

Italian powerhouse Team Liquigas-Cannondale will return to Philadelphia, as well, after a strong showing in the Tour of California.  Peter Sagan (SVK) will look to best his second place finish at the 2010 TD Bank race, on the heels of his performance in California where he narrowly grabbed the Stage 5 win (the Tour’s longest at 135 miles), was second on the podium for Stage 2, and was awarded the overall Sprints Points jersey. Fittingly, Sagan’s brother and teammate, Juraj, also a long distance rider and sprint specialist, will join him here in the City of Brotherly Love.

Team SpiderTech powered by C10 is Canada’s first ever professional cycling team to achieve UCI Professional Continental status.  Led by Steve Bauer, Canada’s most decorated male cyclist and a former yellow jersey wearer in the Tour de France, Team SpiderTech  just won King of the Mountain (KOM) at the Tour of California. The team features Keven Lacombe (CAN), who placed in three of the Tour’s stages and logged three UCI wins in 2010, and the current world cup track champion, Zach Bell.  Both are making return trips to Philly.

Other top international teams include Italy’s Amore e Vita, the oldest professional cycling team in the world, led by former Russian champion Vladislav Borisov; Geox-TMC, sponsored by Philadelphia-based Fuji, and led by Spaniard David De La Fuente; newly formedChampion System from Hong Kong, with  veteran Jaan Kirsipuu (EST), multiple Estonia time trial and road racing champion and multiple Tour de France stage winner;  Swedish-American Team CykelCity , which banked 39 victories in its 2010 season; the Danish National Team, and V Australia, which is heading into this year following a successful 2010 season as both Australian and U.S. National Race Champions.

On the domestic front, seven of the top 10 U.S. men’s teams will take their run at Philly, including the top three, Bissell Pro,RealCyclist.com and UnitedHealthcare, respectively.   Bissell’s Kyle Wamsley (USA), who hails from the Lehigh Valley, will bring his strong sprinting ability to the TD Bank race following his win last weekend at the Wilmington Grand Prix Road Race.  Also on Bissell is sprinter Shane Kline from Bally, Pa., a superstar track cyclist who had a fantastic road season last year.

Accomplished racer Francisco Mancebo Perez (ESP) will lead the RealCyclist.com team.   Mancebo is a former white jersey winner in the Tour de France, a former Spanish national champion and is currently first in the USA Cycling Men’s National Race Calendar (NRC) standings.

Hometown favorite Scott Zwizanski will ride for UnitedHealthcare, continuing his remarkable climb back from a devasting crash in 2004.  Zwizanski made his move to UnitedHealthcare and its Pro Continental debut for the 2011 season from the Kelly Benefit Strategies team where he raced for the last two seasons.  He was the fastest American this spring in the Giro del Trentino’s opening time trial, just 21 seconds down from the top spot.  The West Chester, Pa., native will be joined in Philly by German teammate Robert Förster, a stage winner at Giro and Vuelta, and Boy van Poppel (NED), former U23 Dutch national road racing champion.

Also in the hunt will be:

·         Chipotle Development Team

The development team for powerhouse pro team Garmin-Cervelo, Chipotle features some of the strongest young talent in the world, including Lachlan Morton (AUS) who just finished third overall at the Tour of the Gila.  A great climber who is making waves stateside, Morton won one of the biggest junior races in the world in 2010, Canada’s Tour de l’ Abitibi. 

·         Jamis Sutter Home

Argentinean Alejandro Alberto Borrajo is no stranger to Philadelphia – he was on the podium for the PCT Triple Crown in 2007 and fourth in the Philly race last year; teammate Luis Romero Amaran (CUB) was top last year in overall NRC individual points.

·         Jelly Belly Cycling

Jeremy Powers (USA), otherwise known as J-Pow!, puts his winning personality to work as one of the best cyclocross racers in the world.  Powers is a seven-time member of the U.S. Cyclocross World Championship team and took first place in the 2009 NRC Cyclocross ranking.

·         Kelly Benefit Strategies – OptumHealth

Performance Manager Jonas Carney brings one of the state’s top continental pro cycling  teams back  to Philadelphia.  Headliner Alex Candelario (USA) is just off an impressive showing at the Tour of California.  A highlight for Candelario was Stage 5 where he demonstrated his versatility and power, finishing fifth place in a selective bunch sprint. Teammate Jesse Anthony (USA) also rode aggressively during  the Tour’s Stage 5, winning one KOM climb and placing on another in a breakaway that lasted for the majority of the race.

·         Kenda – 5-Hour Energy Cycling

In its third season as a UCI Continental team, Kenda – 5-Hour Energy will hit Philadelphia following its first appearance at the Tour of California.  Former U.S. Postal team member, Frankie Andreu is team directeur sportif.

·         Team Type 1

Rubens Bertogliati (SUI) is a former yellow jersey wearer at the Tour de France, and the Swiss national time trial champion in 2009 and 2010; teammate Alexander Efimkin (RUS) recently captured the 2011 Tour of Turkey GC win.

·         Two newly upgraded squads from Elite to UCI Continental for 2011 are Team Exergy with returning riders Remi McManus (USA),Andres Diaz (COL) , Chris Hong (USA) and Kai Applequist (USA) and Wonderful Pistachios Cycling, which signed former Footon-Servetto rider Tom Faiers (GBR)  and notable U.S. criterium racer, Iggy Silva, who was most recently with Trek-Livestrong.

Be A Race VIP

Visit our hospitality page to secure your VIP seats to Champions Row on the Parkway and the Top of the Wall Club in Manayunk.  These front row seats give VIPs access to exclusive, fully-catered hospitality suites at the Start/Finish line and at the summit of the Manayunk Wall.  VIP tickets also come with the opportunity to ride in an official Acura Pace Car. Champions Row tickets are $95 each for up to three tickets, $90 per ticket for 4-7 tickets, $85 for 8 or more; Top of the Wall Club tickets are $55 each; and The Works – access to both VIP spots plus shuttle service between them -- runs $125 each for up to three tickets, $120 each for 4-7 tickets, and $115 for 8 or more.