In a wild bunch sprint following a typically aggressive race, HTC-Columbia's Matthew Goss leapt out of the swirling maelstrom to take a commanding victory over recent Tour of California double stage winner, Liquigas' Peter Sagan in the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship.
The remains of the break were only brought into the fold inside the final two kilometers. Liquigas' Daniel Oss put in a stellar display of display of defiance against a determined chasing field, but could not pull off the improbable feat.
It went from one Liquigas rider to an entire team, as the electric green Italian team took over the front in the waning moments. In the crucial finishing straight though, their horsepower was not nearly enough to hold off the swarm from behind.
All order was lost for a moment, but then it was HTC-Columbia with Matthew Goss reaching the finish line first after 253 difficult kilometers.
The 23-year-old Launceston, Tasmania native can now lay claim to two impressive sprint victories in 2010: the 9th Stage in Cava de'Tirreni of the recently completed Giro d'Italia and today's win at the Philadelphia International Classic.
From The Beginning
The weather forecast ahead this year's Philadelphia International Classic ensured that this would be a difficult race. The temperatures were expected to reach the 90's, whilst heavy winds and rains loomed to make sure no one would be comfortable for America's most prestigious one-day race.
The break took awhile getting established this year, but no one wasted any time trying to get it going though. There were some early attacks in the opening short laps, but the real action started as the race headed out for the first of 10 laps, which include the climbs of the 1 km long Manayunk Wall and the lesser, but still tough Lemon Hill.
Early aggression on the first time up the Manayunk Wall saw a group of 39 split off the front of the race. This would be the break of the day, albeit a much more whittled down, compact edition of the original. It took some time to get order at the front, but eventually, the group was down to a much tidier 19-rider group:
Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Doimo), Chris Barton and Chad Beyer (BMC Racing Team), Bernardo Colex (Amore & Vita - Conad), Jason Donald, Cesar Grajales, Nathan O'Neill, and Bobby Lea (Bahati Foundation), Hayden Brooks (Fly V Australia), James Driscoll and Andres Pereyra (Jamis - Sutter Home), Kiel Reijnen and Will Routley (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), David Veilleux (Kelly Benefit Strategies), Nick Waite (Kenda p/b Gear Grinder), Bruno Langlois (Spidertech powered by Planet Energy), Jonathan Clarke (Unitedhealthcare p/b Maxxis), Taylor Shelden (US National Team), and Chris Jones (Team Type 1).
The embattled Bahati Foundation team put four powerful engines in the move and used them to leave a definitive mark on the race. Nathan O'Neill spent a fair bit of the early going solo off the front, doing his best to draw out a smaller, select group, whilst Grajales was involved in most of the KOM action from start to finish.
Midway through the race, and Chris Barton (BMC) was dropped from the 19, as the break pushed out to a solid 4:30 minutes.
The cooperation in the break would take a hit as the race approached the final 100 km. Tour of California KOM leader for a day, Jelly Belly's Will Routley, attacked out of the break and immediately rode out to a significant gap. Behind, riders tried in vain to ride up to him, but Routley held strong. He enjoyed a solo ride up the Wall on the seventh of ten ascents.
The situation started to go grim for a number of riders in the break as the cohesion began to falter and the gap to the field continued to rise. Early aggressor, Nathan O'Neill was dropped, then it was his Bahati Foundation teammate, Jason Donald. Next up for the chopping block was Fly V's young gun Hayden Brooks, then it was Routley's Jelly Belly teammate, Kiel Reijnen. The carnage in the break was severe, but Routley was holding strong at the front.
The seventh trip up the Wall split the break in two - a group of eight, then a group of seven, with Routley of course, all alone up front.
The split looked tenuous at first, but the separation on the Wall never came back together.
Routley's effort was considerable, but highly effective. He spent nearly 80 km alone, including three ascents of the Manayunk Wall.
By the time Routley was caught following his impressive solo feat, the race was nearing its thrilling conclusion. Routley was caught by Daniel Oss (Liquigas), Ermanno Capelli (Footon-Servetto), Cesar Grajales (Bahati), and Chris Jones (Team Type 1). Soon after, a chase group of four connected with the quintet to bring the break's total to nine. The new additions were Jackson Stewart (BMC), Serhy Grechyn (Amore e Vita), Scott Zwizanski (Kelly), and Ryan Roth (SpiderTech).
The group of nine's gap to the hard chasing field was quickly disappearing though. It was only 1:15 with 25 km to go.
On the final trip up the Wall, the nine's brief period of cohesion ended, and by the top, the group was down to only four: Daniel Oss, Ermanno Capelli, Serhy Grechyn, and Ryan Roth.
At this point, as the race headed into the final short laps before the finish. The chasing field was making solid headway, but the field was down to a scant thirty riders. Ownership of the chase had been passed around a fair bit amongst the top teams with UnitedHealthcare doing some solid work, then Bissell, and finally it was HTC-Columbia, who took the gap from iffy to over.
Oss made one final last gasp effort to hold off the hungry field, but it wasn't enough.
Heading into the final stretch, chaos ensued as Liquigas' leadout for Peter Sagan faltered, leaving the door wide open for Matthew Goss to prove once again that there aren't just two big name sprinters on HTC-Columbia anymore.
1. Matthew Goss (HTC-Columbia)
2. Peter Sagan (Liquigas)
3. Alexander Kristoff (BMC)