4.18.08
COMMERCE BANK TRIPLE CROWN OF CYCLING PRO MEN'S
TEAMS ANNOUNCED
April
18,
2008: Organizers
of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling have
announced the 25 professional men’s teams
that will wage a three-race battle on the hardscrabble
streets of southeastern Pennsylvania in early June.
To the victors will go the lion’s share of
a $93,500 prize purse that includes a $10,000 bonus
for the overall series winner.
Battling for the
cash will be a deep field that includes three teams
slated to start July’s Tour de France, the
Danish-based CSC formation and American powerhouses
Team High Road and Slipstream Sports. But this is
not necessarily a harbinger of a one-sided affair.
Home-grown teams such at Toyota-United, Health Net
and Pennsylvania’s own Rite Aid squad will
surely do their best to topple the big boys.
Also be on the watch
for cycling’s new bad boys, Rock Racing, which
boasts a marquee team roster that includes the likes
of ProTour veterans Freddie Rodriguez, Tyler Hamilton,
Victor Hugo Peña and recent Redlands Classic
winner Santiago Botero.
“The Rock Racing
team has a brash approach that’s sometimes
controversial,” explained Pro Cycling Tour
president David Chauner. “But they also have
a stacked team and their owner is an enthusiastic
guy who wants to make an impact on the sport. We
like that.”
Indeed, Rock Racing
boss and fashion mogul Michael Ball will be just
one of the many characters that make the 2008 Commerce
Bank Triple Crown of Cycling a must attend sporting
event.
The three-race series
commences June 3rd with the Commerce Bank Lehigh
Valley Classic, an 85-mile, 12-lap circuit race
that traces a twisting path through Allentown and
Salisbury Township. Two days later, the race caravan
will relocate to Reading for a 75-mile, 11-lap affair
that darts back and forth between the city’s
downtown and nearby Mt. Penn.
Finally, comes the
big daddy of North American one-day races, the Commerce
Bank Philadelphia International Championship. Celebrating
its 24th running, this epic 156-mile test of mettle
begins and ends on Philadelphia’s famed Benjamin
Franklin Parkway. In between a fast field of the
world’s 200-plus best cyclists will fight
and claw their way around 10 laps of the 14.4-mile
primary circuit that includes the infamous Manayunk
Wall, which boasts precipitous grades in excess
of 17 percent. That’s followed by three testing
finishing circuits up and over Lemon Hill before
the 2008 champion is crowned.
“What sets
these races apart is that they are circuit races
held in the heart of big cities, not long point-to-point
tours where you may only see the riders once all
day,” added Chauner, a 40-year veteran of
the sport, two-time Olympian, and 1998 inductee
into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame. “Our
events allow you to see the strategy and tactics
unfold right before your eyes. It’s NASCAR
on bicycles.”
And just like NASCAR,
all three events will garner expanded live television
coverage, a testament to excitement the Commerce
Bank Triple Crown of Cycling will unleash during
the first week of June.
