Aldape's Seventh Place Leads Team Type 1 In Philadelphia

Team Type 1's Moises Aldape leads along Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Photo by Mark Blacknell/Quo Vadimus Media
Philadelphia - The last time Team Type 1 had five riders in the mix late in a race, the end result was a third-place finish on the team classification at the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T.

The same scenario was playing out Sunday at the Philadelphia International Classic in the waning miles of the 156-mile (251 km) race that included 10 circuits of a 14.4-mile (23.1 km) course in near 100-degree heat.

"With one lap to go, I thought we had it in the bag," Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said. "I thought maybe 15 or 20 guys would make it over the top of the climb the last time. Instead, it was 80 guys."

Among Team Type 1's five riders was Glen Chadwick, who teamed up with Svein Tuft (Symmetrics Pro Cycling Team) and Francisco Matamoros (Tecos-Trek) to gain a two-and-a-half-minute lead. Chadwick, who was riding a spare bike following a crash, was looking for an opportunity to make a move, Beamon said.

"It wasn't too early and that was the move that was setting up the guys later on," he said. "High Road had to do quite a bit of work - along with Slipstream - to bring those guys back."

When Chadwick's move was reeled in, it was Chris Jones' turn to force the pace.

"If we didn't do something, it was going to be a sprint," Beamon said. "(Ben) Brooks was feeling really good. We wanted to keep him for the sprint. We needed (Valeriy) Kobzarenko to lead him out. So when we went to Lemon Hill, we told Chris to be the guy and put in the first attack."

Only Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis) could follow Jones' attack and the two quickly gained an advantage that looked good with fewer than 10 miles to go. But the oppressive heat, which had the race on one of its slowest paces in 24 editions, actually kept the field intact and led to a concerted chase.

Jones and Sutherland were swallowed up before the final ascent of Lemon Hill, leading to a field sprint that was won by Matti Breschel (Team CSC). Kirk O'Bee (Health Net-Maxxis) was second and Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing) finished third.

Team Type 1's Aldape (pictured) finished seventh in the company of an accomplished group of sprinters that included Team High Road's Bernhard Eisel (fourth), Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast's Alex Candelario (fifth), sixth-place finisher Tyler Farrar (Slipstream-Chipotle presented by H30) and ahead of Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United).

Brooks was Team Type 1's next best finisher in 15th. Kobzarenko finished 34th, Chadwick was 57th and Jones was 70th. Team Type 1 and Team High Road were the only squads with five riders to finish in a race that saw fewer than half of the 190 starters make it to the end.