Pro cycling returned to Philadelphia after a decade-long pause, and fans were treated to a photo finish in the day’s opening event, the women’s race.
Despite the course’s punchy nature, the 100-kilometre race came down to a sprint finish, with Italian Chiara Consonni (Canyon-SRAM) edging out Canadian Alexandra Volstad (EF Education-Oatly) and American Ella Sabo (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28).
This trio was among a small selection able to stay ahead of a crash that took down race-favourite Maggie Coles-Lyster (Human Powered Health) in the closing metres of the race.
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“I hear that something happened in the last few meters, some crashes, but, yeah, fortunately, we were in front. I think we managed really, really good the lead-out,” Consonni said post-race.
Consonni’s teammate, Australian Tiffany Cromwell, commented that the race went exactly as the WorldTour team had planned.
“We knew we had the strongest team; we had to be smart. And it worked out perfectly,” said Cromwell.
First held in 1985 as the Philadelphia International Championship, the race became one of North America’s premier one-day cycling events. For decades, it brought many of the sport’s biggest names to Philadelphia and its infamous Manayunk Wall and Lemon Hill. But as funding and interest in road cycling declined in the United States, the race went on hiatus.
Now, after a decade’s absence, it is back as one of just two UCI-sanctioned 1.1 one-day road races on U.S. soil, and its revival attracted a truly international peloton.
The 116-rider women’s peloton contained WorldTour teams, Olympians and national champions as well as the best domestic riders. Megan Guarnier, a former Giro d’Italia Women winner, U.S. national champion and the last winner of this race back in 2016, also made an appearance racing with the CCB Kenetik p/b Levine Law Group team.
The revived course was built around a 23-kilometre urban circuit featuring Lemon Hill and the race’s defining obstacle, the Manayunk Wall with its brutal 17% gradients.
After an extended neutral rollout, racing finally kicked off just before the first trip up the Wall, with EF Education-Oatly taking control of the pace.
The steady tempo began to thin the back of the peloton, although the field remained together through the opening lap.
A two-rider breakaway consisting of Mairen Lawson (Aegis) and Farah-Dale Morris (Automatic Racing) briefly escaped early on lap two, only to be caught on the Wall as EF Education-Oatly again controlled the group.
The longest-lasting breakaway formed on lap three, when seven riders from the field’s smaller teams went clear and opened a gap of around 40 seconds. Attrition gradually reduced its numbers, but the remaining riders still carried an advantage into the final lap.
EF Education-Oatly swept up the breakaway at the base of the Wall and immediately helped launch a dangerous five-rider countermove. Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner and teammate Babette van der Wolf represented EF, Chiara Consonni and Agnieszka Skalniak-Sojka were there for Canyon-SRAM, and Guarnier completed the group.
With two powerhouse teams represented at the front, it came down to the WorldTour team Human Powered Health to take up the chase. The five-rider breakaway was fully reeled in with less than 10 kilometres left in the race. Another countermove went off the front, but this was short-lived.
Consonni said that she and her team were aware of the threat posed by Coles-Lyster’s sprint.
“It was really chaotic, because there was this breakaway, and then we knew that every stronger team were there,” said Consonni.
“But we had Maggie [Coles-Lyster], that she had also a nice sprint, so we tried to close the gap, because we knew that maybe, if we arrived with the sprint, we can make it.”
A reduced bunch of around 20 riders was headed to the finish line along Benjamin Franklin Parkway with Canyon-SRAM, Human Powered Health, and EF Education Oatley controlling the front.
After navigating a roundabout at the top of the finishing straight, riders fanned across the wide American road.
With about 300m remaining, a small touch of wheels took down Coles-Lyster and her teammate, taking them out of contention for the sprint.
“We were on perfect wheel, ready to come around and start opening up the sprint, and a rider just chopped us, took out the front wheel,” Coles-Lyster told Cycling Weekly post-race. “We were in perfect position, and I think it easily could have been both Catherine [Schweinberger] and I on the podium.”
This was Coles-Lyster’s second tumble in a week, and after collecting herself and crossing the line, she said she was feeling it.
“I’m pretty sore. I mean, we both had a tumble last weekend [at the Lloyd’s Tour of Britain] as well, so this is just kind of, you know, what is the saying, adding injury to whatever,” she lamented.
Coming out of the wheels, piloted by her teammate Cromwell, Consonni looked to be in the best position on the right side of the road, and she launched her winning move.
With her head down and eyes forward, the Italian took to the front and made her winning kick. Volstad and Consonni both threw their bikes across the line but the Italian came out well ahead.
