Philadelphia International Championship

IF YESTERDAY'S TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship bike race was the last one in this city after 25 years, it certainly put on a memorable finale. Team Columbia-Highroad turned in a sweep, as Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, of Germany, took the women's 57.6-mile Liberty Classic, and fellow German Andre Greipel sprinted to his first title here in the 156-mile men's race. It was the third win in 5 years for the 35-year-old Teutenberg, while Greipel had to overcome a huge early breakout and steamy weather.

Organizers of the 2008 Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling said they would announce on Thursday that the Commerce Bank Lehigh Valley Classic will replace the Lancaster Classic as the first event for the series, which will culminate on June 8 with the Philadelphia International Championship. The Lehigh Valley race is scheduled for June 3. Details of the course are expected to be announced on Thursday. The second leg of the series is set for June 5 in Reading, Pa.

The first leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling is scheduled to be held today in Lancaster. Featuring one of the largest cycling fields in the history of the race, 200 professional cyclists are expected to start the Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic at 3 p.m. Last year's winner, Greg Henderson, will not return this year. He finished the 91-mile course in 3 hours, 21 minutes, 28 seconds. The second leg of the Triple Crown is scheduled for Thursday in Reading. The final race, the 156-mile Philadelphia International Championship, is set for next Sunday in Philadelphia.

The first race in the 2007 Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling is scheduled for Sunday in Lancaster. The three-race series is highlighted by the Philadelphia International Championship men's race and Liberty Classic women's race on June 10. It also features the Lancaster Classic on Sunday and the Reading Classic on Thursday. The International Championship is celebrating its 23d year and has developed into what its organizers call the biggest and richest one-day road race in North and South America.

The organizers of Philadelphia's famed bicycle road race announced yesterday that Commerce Bank is its new sponsor. Wachovia stopped sponsoring the event last year, threatening a possible relocation or elimination of the 156-mile race that runs through the city and up Manayunk's famed "wall. " Commerce will sponsor the race for at least four years for an undisclosed amount. The June 11 Philadelphia International Championship is the third leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling.

The Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling is set to begin today with its first race, the Lehigh Valley Classic. That race is an 85-mile, 12-lap circuit race that runs through Allentown and Salisbury Township. Then, on Thursday, the Triple Crown caravan will move to Reading for a 75-mile, 10-lap ride through the city's downtown and nearby Mount Penn. Finally, on Sunday will be the Philadelphia International Championship. Celebrating its 24th running, this 156-mile race begins and ends on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

For the second consecutive year, the winner of the Philadelphia International Championship pro cycling race came from the HTC-Highroad racing team. The team opted not to send defending champion Matt Gross to the race, but Alex Rasmussen, of Denmark, kept the championship with HTC-Highroad. Rasmussen finished the 156 miles, featuring 10 circuits of about 15 miles and the vaunted Manayunk Wall, in 5 hours, 59 minutes, 4.6 seconds. Last year's runner-up Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Over the last 24 years, the Philadelphia International Championship has attracted cycling's elite riders for a unique event staged only here. The sport's best have found success weaving through the city streets dating back to June 1985. Among them have been Eric Heiden (1985), Davis Phinney ('91), and Lance Armstrong ('93.) Heiden, winner of five Olympic gold medals as a speedskater, went on to become a top cyclist, winning the first Philadelphia race, in 1985. Phinney, winner of the 1991 Philadelphia race, is one of the winningest American cyclists and the first American to win a stage in the Tour de France, in 1986.

An indoor bicycle racetrack, with an infield for a concert area with 4,000 seats or space for trade shows, has been proposed for a reclaimed industrial site in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County. The banked 250-meter wooden track, capable of handling national and international cycling competition, would be the first such indoor facility on the East Coast, according to developers. If all goes as planned, the $22 million project, which would include an adjacent 150-room hotel, could open by the spring of 2008, officials said.

This June, the Wachovia USPRO Championships won't be held on the streets of Philadelphia. But a bicycle race that looks an awful lot like it will be, organizers promise. After 21 years, the big event, which has become a civic institution, is undergoing an involuntary overhaul. Last week, in two unrelated moves, it lost both of the key elements in its title. First, the competition was stripped of its designation as the U.S. cycling championship. USA Cycling wanted a race limited to American cyclists only (as other countries have)

For the second consecutive year, the winner of the Philadelphia International Championship pro cycling race came from the HTC-Highroad racing team. The team opted not to send defending champion Matt Gross to the race, but Alex Rasmussen, of Denmark, kept the championship with HTC-Highroad. Rasmussen finished the 156 miles, featuring 10 circuits of about 15 miles and the vaunted Manayunk Wall, in 5 hours, 59 minutes, 4.6 seconds. Last year's runner-up Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale)

Alex Rasmussen could feel his legs burning as well as the hot breath of the thick pack of cyclists as he dashed down the final straightaway on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Sunday's 27th TD Bank Philadelphia Men's International Cycling Championship. Neither could prevent the curly-haired Dane from winning the 156-mile race in a photo finish that had the top 11 riders finish one second apart. Meanwhile, Giorgia Bronzini, the tiny Italian wearing the rainbow jersey as the reigning world road champion, tamed the Manayunk Wall with relative ease and had plenty of stamina remaining to pull away in a sprint and win the 57-mile Liberty Classic, the women's race.

AGENDA What: 27th Philadelphia International Cycling Championship When: Sunday, 9 a.m. for men's race (approximate finish time 3:10 p.m.); 9:10 for women's race (approximate finish time 11:30 a.m.) TV: Comcast SportsNet, noon-3:30 Teams: 18 teams with riders coming from eight countries. More than 180 riders will compete. In the women's race, more than 100 riders will compete. Course: For the men, 156 miles, broken into 10 laps of 14.4 miles each. For the women, 57.6 miles, broken into four laps of 14.4 miles each.

IF YESTERDAY'S TD Bank Philadelphia International Championship bike race was the last one in this city after 25 years, it certainly put on a memorable finale. Team Columbia-Highroad turned in a sweep, as Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, of Germany, took the women's 57.6-mile Liberty Classic, and fellow German Andre Greipel sprinted to his first title here in the 156-mile men's race. It was the third win in 5 years for the 35-year-old Teutenberg, while Greipel had to overcome a huge early breakout and steamy weather.

Over the last 24 years, the Philadelphia International Championship has attracted cycling's elite riders for a unique event staged only here. The sport's best have found success weaving through the city streets dating back to June 1985. Among them have been Eric Heiden (1985), Davis Phinney ('91), and Lance Armstrong ('93.) Heiden, winner of five Olympic gold medals as a speedskater, went on to become a top cyclist, winning the first Philadelphia race, in 1985. Phinney, winner of the 1991 Philadelphia race, is one of the winningest American cyclists and the first American to win a stage in the Tour de France, in 1986.

The Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling is set to begin today with its first race, the Lehigh Valley Classic. That race is an 85-mile, 12-lap circuit race that runs through Allentown and Salisbury Township. Then, on Thursday, the Triple Crown caravan will move to Reading for a 75-mile, 10-lap ride through the city's downtown and nearby Mount Penn. Finally, on Sunday will be the Philadelphia International Championship. Celebrating its 24th running, this 156-mile race begins and ends on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Organizers of the 2008 Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling said they would announce on Thursday that the Commerce Bank Lehigh Valley Classic will replace the Lancaster Classic as the first event for the series, which will culminate on June 8 with the Philadelphia International Championship. The Lehigh Valley race is scheduled for June 3. Details of the course are expected to be announced on Thursday. The second leg of the series is set for June 5 in Reading, Pa.