Philadelphia International Championship

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Maybe they meant "colonial crit" not "provincial crit"

Anyway, it is on TV

Nope I meant provincial, in the sense that it is important to those on the periphery (of cycling, in this case) but is not worthy of much respect from 'the centre'.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

...streams?

 

[Potomac]

Race is over

Goss
Sagan?
???


Sheeesh....the race has been over for 5 minutes and I have seen a graphic with the names of the top 3

 

[Potomac]

Kristoff in 3rd place

 

[lean mean &green]

Nope I meant provincial, in the sense that it is important to those on the periphery (of cycling, in this case) but is not worthy of much respect from 'the centre'.

do you know what a crit is?

 

[tgsgirl]

So it's Goss - Sagan - Kristoff. Alexander Kristoff is pretty much the only non-star at BMC whom I find interesting. Nice to see him getting some good results.

 

[kjetilraknerud]

Nice podium! Great to see Goss taking his chance, and great to see Kristoff on the podium as well, it will be interesting to watch him the next couple of years.

 

[nvpacchi]

Great finish!

After the race Peter Sagan hung around a little longer to sign autographs for some young kids, seems like a class act already at such a young age.

 

[bobs nob]

...streams?

Check versus website.

Comcast was the sponsor, their site may also contain video.

As for the announcers, yes, one guy was just a bit on the amateur side. Especially when he kept referring to is it 'Todd' Gogulski aka Gogo as 'Scott', and they finally had to correct him on air and Gogulski said it was ok to call him Gogo. (Sorry, if his name isn't Todd, in any event, the announcer kept calling him by a name that wasn't his.)

The video kept breaking up worse than European races and we kept getting switched back to a stationary camera showing the finish line where nothing, NOTHING was happening. Another time the race video broke up, we got treated to a somewhat attractive woman who kept pulling up her boyfriend's shirt and rubbing his belly. I thought for a sec I was gonna have to either change the channel or chase the kids out of the room. I didn't know where she was headed.

But for those of us in the US, it would be wonderful to be regularly treated to road races here so those of us who don't live and breathe cycle racing can gain some familiarity with the teams and riders. Isn't that what builds a base of fans?

 

[Angliru]

there's one announcer, I guess he's from Comcast, but he's constantly praising the race, the history of the race, the importance of the race, the qualit of the American teams, etc etc etc and he does it such a manner that he pulls the race down. You can tell he has real inferiority complex about it.

The announcers endless banter gave me a headache. Trying to fill up space by saying the exact phrase over and over and over again was beyond annoying. The mute had to be utilized.

I was also quite disappointed in their hyping of the Manyunk Wall but we were only given the view of the riders as they made the turn on to it. No view from the top down as they struggled up nor a view of who was bringing the pain as they climbed it.

Otherwise a pretty exciting race with what appeared to be an extremely supportive crowd of fans. I was rooting for Sagan and he almost came through in the end.

 

[thehog]

The announcers endless banter gave me a headache. Trying to fill up space by saying the exact phrase over and over and over again was beyond annoying. The mute had to be utilized.

I was also quite disappointed in their hyping of the Manyunk Wall but we were only given the view of the riders as they made the turn on to it. No view from the top down as they struggled up nor a view of who was bringing the pain as they climbed it.

Otherwise a pretty exciting race with what appeared to be an extremely supportive crowd of fans. I was rooting for Sagan and he almost came through in the end.

I was there and surprised there wasn't a lot of people around watching. Just general cycling nuts. Even I got bored and I had job to do.

It was a dry, hot dusty day. Not good for cycling or cycle watching.

My highlight was running up the Rocky stairs. Not every day you get to do that!

 

[nvpacchi]

I was there and surprised there wasn't a lot of people around watching. Just general cycling nuts. Even I got bored and I had job to do.

It was a dry, hot dusty day. Not good for cycling or cycle watching.

My highlight was running up the Rocky stairs. Not every day you get to do that!

So I guess you were there to hear the MC call Sir Lance Armstrong one of the most famous human beings ever...

I just hung my head in shame.

 

[Highlander]

I was at the race today as well and I have to say that the weather was so much better than the past few years. If you thought that today was hot, you would have hated a few of the previous editions which were closer to 100. From what I saw, the crowds were a bit slower to form this year, but they reached pretty normal levels by about noon. I even passed up doing a race myself as I preferred to watch the professionals grind it out and I'll be back again next year.

One thing I did note from the results was that Oss was listed as a DNF. I was surprised about this as he led over Lemon Hill over the final lap. I know that riders give up a lot of times after being in a long breakaway that is finally snatched up and he more than did his part for the team, but with so little distance left, why would a rider just quit? I would think that he would just soft pedal his way to the finish line as there were only a few miles left and he easily would make it before the time cut.

 

[bobs nob]

I was there and surprised there wasn't a lot of people around watching. Just general cycling nuts. Even I got bored and I had job to do.

It was a dry, hot dusty day. Not good for cycling or cycle watching.

My highlight was running up the Rocky stairs. Not every day you get to do that!

Is it considered dorky to hum the theme from Rocky when you do that? Do bystanders hum it while you are going up the stairs?

 

[lean mean &green]

john eustice is everyone's new favorite announcer. he is a local guy, former pro, and now a race promoter. I'd like to say he was overzealous today because the race was almost canceled last year and it's exciting to see it having perservered but he's always that way. he's generally a nice guy but he is a very weak announcer.

the picture break-up is often due to the race passing under countless bridges and tunnels as much of the race course hugs the river. manayunk is also known for tight narrow streets, not always easy for tv transmissions either. (the race is broadcast locally every year so we're quite used to those glitches)

 

[bobs nob]

So I guess you were there to hear the MC call Sir Lance Armstrong one of the most famous human beings ever...

I just hung my head in shame.

Did this draw a response from the crowd?

 

[thehog]

So I guess you were there to hear the MC call Sir Lance Armstrong one of the most famous human beings ever...

I just hung my head in shame.

I missed that! Darn.

For the life of me I can't understand why US cycling gravitates to the man.

On a day when Tejay Van Garderen gets 2nd to Contador American cycling is still wrapped up like its 1999. They just can't let it go. Watching and speaking to the some of the juniors at the race today none of them want to be Lance Armstrong. None of them. They don't even want to talk about him. The only guy who wants to be Lance Armstrong is Taylor Phinney.

 

[thehog]

Is it considered dorky to hum the theme from Rocky when you do that? Do bystanders hum it while you are going up the stairs?

No humming. Plenty of rubbernecks laughing at me. But I wasn't the only dork running up the stairs attempting to be Rocky.

 

[nvpacchi]

Did this draw a response from the crowd?

I think people started to perk up a little more. I wasn't directly down by the start/finish area when I heard it, but more of the annoying cowbells began to chime in once that statement was made. Then Governor Ed Rendell went into some Bs about Lance winning the race 17 years ago and the grand prize was a million dollars????

Is that at all possible?? Matt Goss won $13,500 this year.

Watching and speaking to the some of the juniors at the race today none of them want to be Lance Armstrong. None of them. They don't even want to talk about him. The only guy who wants to be Lance Armstrong is Taylor Phinney.

Its promising to see they have good heads on their shoulders. Caleb Fairly seems to have some nice potential. He seemed very level-headed and down to earth after winning Battenkill.

 

[bobs nob]

I think people started to perk up a little more. I wasn't directly down by the start/finish area when I heard it, but more of the annoying cowbells began to chime in once that statement was made. Then Governor Ed Rendell went into some Bs about Lance winning the race 17 years ago and the grand prize was a million dollars????

Is that at all possible?? Matt Goss won $13,500 this year.

A politician lied? Someone alert the media!

 

[thehog]

Its promising to see they have good heads on their shoulders. Caleb Fairly seems to have some nice potential. He seemed very level-headed and down to earth after winning Battenkill.

In the U/16 race (does this have a name in the US?) I was surprised at the amount of black riders. It was good to see. I don't see that in the UK/Europe.

 

[bobs nob]

In the U/16 race (does this have a name in the US?) I was surprised at the amount of black riders. It was good to see. I don't see that in the UK/Europe.

I hope they stay with it.

 

[nvpacchi]

I hope they stay with it.

I agree. I think Bahati will be very influential in developing cycling in the black community.

In the U/16 race (does this have a name in the US?) I was surprised at the amount of black riders. It was good to see. I don't see that in the UK/Europe.

Dunno if we have a special cat. for under 16 (Juniors is the only thing I can think of). The highlight of that event was seeing the kid who couldn't have been more than 5 ft. riding a full blown road bike. It looked so disproportionate to his body you couldn't help but smile. Nonetheless he still motored along well for someone that young.

 

[Highlander]

A politician lied? Someone alert the media!

Actually, he probably didn't lie in this case. Back in the early 1990s, the Philly race was part of the Thrift Drug Triple Crown of Cycling and Thrift Drug, a now extinct drugstore - offered a $1 million prize if any rider won all three races. Armstrong did win all 3, so I assume that they had to pay him it although I don't know for sure if they did.

 

[nvpacchi]

Actually, he probably didn't lie in this case. Back in the early 1990s, the Philly race was part of the Thrift Drug Triple Crown of Cycling and Thrift Drug, a now extinct drugstore - offered a $1 million prize if any rider won all three races. Armstrong did win all 3, so I assume that they had to pay him it although I don't know for sure if they did.

Very Interesting.

From Chris Carmichael's website:"Lance took on the Thrift Drug Triple Crown - comprised of the K-Mart West Virginia Classic, the Thrift Drug Classic in Pittsburgh, PA, and the Corestates USPRO Championships in Philadelphia, PA. The Triple Crown offered a $1 million dollar payout for winning all three races. Having already won the first two races, and with the hefty payout in mind, Lance raced – and won - CoreStates just three weeks prior to his first appearance at the Tour de France."

I also saw the first year (1992) Thrift Drug proposed the challenge the purse was only $50,000. In a year it jumped up $950,000! Now we know why Thrift Drug went under