Tales from the Peloton: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Only a select few riders have the reserves and stamina to race hard after five hours and 135 miles of tough racing. Conserving energy and managing fatigue is critical to performance in long races such as the 156 mile - 250 kilometer - USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The 2004 edition of the race became subject to an excellent documentary, PRO, by Jamie Paolinetti.
The Philly course consists of three short, flat, one mile laps at the start around the Philly Museum of Art made famous by the Rocky movies. The race then takes on ten long, 14.4 mile circuits including the climbs of Strawberry Hill, Lemon Hill, and the tough Manayunk Wall. The race then finishes with three shorter, three mile finishing circuits past the Art Museum taking on the short climb of Lemon Hill. The finish - located on Ben Franklin parkway after exiting Logan circle - typically sees a group sprint, but occasionally the distance, and race tactics allow a solo rider to win. The Webcor team had two cards to play: our sprinter Charles Dionne, and our leg-breaker Chris Horner. Charles was more than a mere sprinter. Charles was an incredibly tough rider well suited to short climbs like the Wall. Horner was the strongest rider in the North American peloton in 2002 and 2003. His arrival on the team in 2004 changed the type of races we could target, and our entire approach to racing. In prior seasons, we had to race as plucky underdogs, and look for opportunities to sneak a good result against the big teams. With a leg breaker like Horner on the squad, we could work to set him up for a possible solo victory at Philly. Alternatively, both Charles and Horner could make the final split, allowing them to take turns attacking for the win, or finally, Horner would be sure to have plenty of reserves left to help lead out Charles for a possible sprint victory in a bunch sprint.
Webcor Team mechanic Jim O’Brien describes Chris Horner while working on my race bike.
The Manayunk Wall was a little brute of a climb. Short, at only a half mile in length, but steep with an 8.2% average grade, and a long pitch of 17%. But, what made the Wall such a challenge wasn’t the wall itself, but rather the battle into the wall. The fight starts as the peloton turns off Kelly Drive onto Main Street. Main Street in Manayunk is a wide road allowing riders plenty of space to move up along the edges of the peloton. But, the race then takes a sharp right turn onto the narrow Levering St, another quick right onto the cobblestoned, even narrower Cresson St, then another quick left back onto Levering St to begin the climb proper. All team leaders wanted to position themselves at the front of the race for the first right turn onto Levering St to insure good position at the front as the peloton starts the climb so that they could evaluate and respond to any attacks. Team workers were tasked with the challenge of keeping their team leaders out of danger at the front of the swarm all the way along Main Street. This took a nearly maximal effort by the workers for five minutes as the pack sped along between 35 and 40 miles an hour in the fight for position. The strain and tension increases on the final laps 8, 9, and 10, as race winning moves could potentially go on any lap.
Team HealthNet rider John Lieswyn describes the battle into the Manayunk Wall.
My task for the race was simple: conserve energy for the first 100 miles, and then help Charles and Horner out on the final, most challenging laps in the fight to the Wall.
The race started with a large break of 29 riders going clear after the first time up Manayunk. We had two riders in the break, but it wasn’t the best move for our team. The HealthNet team had placed over half their team in the move - five riders. Quickly the gap stretched up to three minutes at the end of the first lap, then six minutes, and nearly seven after a few laps.. But, some of the other larger teams weren’t happy with the composition of the move either, and team CSC along with the USPS team (Lance Armstrong’s team, though he wasn’t part of the team racing Philly) went to the front to set tempo and slowly reduce the gap to the leaders. I spent the opening two-thirds of the race tucked into the draft of the bunch eating and drinking to keep my energy reserves topped up. Finally, as lap seven started, I punched my time card and got to work. On laps seven, eight, and nine, I had to keep Charles and Horner in front of the swarm, riding in the wind at a maximal effort with them tucked into my draft in close quarters fights with every other team trying to do the same thing for their leaders. And each lap, I had to find a little bit extra to then make it up the two minute climb of Manayunk with the group so that I could do the same thing the next lap.
Up the road, the break was slowly disintegrating as the toll of the long race affected the riders. At the start of lap 9, team CSC increased the pace in the peloton driving the pace at a blistering pace into the Wall. The gap to the leaders had slowly been coming down, and was only two minutes at this point, but it quickly crumbled under the pressure from team CSC. The break splintered with only 11 riders remaining after the selection. But, CSC had launched Bobby Julich up the wall, and he bridged the gap solo to the break as the race returned onto Kelly Drive. Bobby was an incredibly strong rider who had placed 3rd on the final podium of the Tour de France. Though he had a few lean years racing after that career defining result, he still had the form required to win the race.
So at the start of lap 10 - 135 miles and over five hours into the race - our team joined forces with the Postal Service team to work bringing back the break with Bobby. Horner was clear in his guidance to the team: “Everything to Manayunk! Everything! We need that time back as much as possible! Everything!” We buried ourselves at the front with the peloton pinned back in a long line under the pressure of our pace. Though my legs were screaming in protest from the effort, I knew that if we could catch the break it would place Charles and Horner in with a good chance of the win, and spoil the efforts Bobby was making to keep the break clear. The chase was a success, and Bobby’s group was brought back just before the turn onto Main Street and the fight for the Wall.
Webcor and Postal Service form an alliance for the Philly lap 10 chase along Kelly Drive.
Horner managed to successfully surf the pack solo in the battle to the Wall, and was placed close to the front as the peloton started the last ascent up Manayunk. To win the race solo, he would need to lay the foundations for victory right now. Horner put in a blistering attack - climbing Manayunk in his big ring! His attack exploded the peloton, and only three other riders were able survive the assault and claw their way back to his wheel by the top of Manayunk.
Horner decimated the peloton with a blistering lap 10 attack.
Unfortunately, even though Postal Service had a rider in Horner’s move, Micheal Barry wasn't the right Postal Service rider. Michael elected not to work with Horner, which ruined the chances of the move succeeding. Larger groups of riders, including Charles Dionne, soon caught back up for the final three finishing circuits. Horner made a final, desperate attack on the final ascent of Lemon Hill, but that move was brought back as well setting up a bunch sprint. Charles and Horner both got boxed in the final sprint along with the entire Postal Service team, and Spaniard Francisco Ventoso ended up sneaking through the chaos to take victory. I rolled in with a group of rider nearly six minutes behind after being unable to hang onto the substantially reduced peloton after my earlier efforts. Races the length of Philly had always intimidated me. 100 miles is a long day in the saddle, but having the strength and endurance to race - to really go fast - at the distance of the classic races in Europe was a entirely different challenge. 2004 Philly showed that if I thoughtfully managed my energy throughout a race, I could keep fatigue at bay, and play an active roll in the finale of races of this magnitude.
— James
Video © 2004 Jamie Paolinetti