The Cycliste Moderne, June 3, 2005

Wachovia Week is Here

The greatest week in American cycling, Wachovia Week, ends on Sunday with the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. The race started on Tuesday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with one of the hardest US races of the year. Thursday, the riders competed in Trenton, New Jersey on one of the fastest courses in the United States.

Unique to all other national championships, the USPRO Championship crowns the US national champion in a race that is not limited to US professionals. As a result, the race attracts all domestic professional teams and some of the top European teams as well. Because the winner gets $40,000 and the first American across the line gets the Stars and Stripes Jersey of the US champion, it is a race that is probably the most heatedly contested race in the US during the year.

Sunday’s national championship will be a difficult race that is one of the longest in the US. The riders race up the Manayunk Wall ten times and the smaller Lemon Hill 13 times on a course that is 250km long. The Manayunk Wall is comparable to anything they have in Belgium. It is cobbled and the climb maxes out at 17%. Although the Manayunk Wall is difficult and the winning move typically goes away on this stretch, the last climb of the Wall is too far away from the end of the race to be decisive. It does serve the purpose, however of reducing the peleton significantly during the race.

Because the race attracts strong European teams who come to the US for the big pay day, it is only occasionally that an American wins both the race and the jersey. Over the last few years the winner of the USPRO jersey has been the third, fourth or even fifth rider across the line.

This year, some of the biggest European teams have come to race for American team leaders. Denmark’s CSC is riding in support of Bobby Julich who has expressed his desire to add the stars and stripes jersey of the USPRO champion to his career credits. Belgium’s Davitamon-Lotto has brought a strong team to support current USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez. Saunier Duval-Prodir of Spain has American Chris Horner as its leader. Each of those teams have foreign riders who could win the race with CSC bringing Lars Michaelson, Davitamon-Lotto bringing past race winner, Henk Vogels, and Saunier Duval bringing last year’s race winner, Francisco Jose Ventoso.

Surprisingly, Discovery Channel has sent a really strong team without an American who could potentially win the race. Instead, if Discovery manages to win it will most likely be by Roger Hammond of Great Britain or Max VanHeesswijk of the Netherlands.

Of the US domestic teams, Health Net is most likely to win the race having already won in Lancaster and Trenton this week. Canadian Gord Fraser is clearly on form but the whole team is riding really well and really smart at the moment. The team invariably gets multiple riders into key breaks and manages to have multiple sprinters ready to finish races. If Fraser does not win, Health Net could win with emerging spring phenom Tyler Farrar, Cuban speedster Ivan Dominguez or Kiwi fast man Greg Henderson.

As I already mentioned, the winner of the USPRO stars and stripes champion’s jersey will likely not win the race. However, Fred Rodriguez is riding into better form having finished second at both Trenton and Lancaster this week without much help from his jet lagged team. If his team rides strong and smart, Rodriguez could repeat as USPRO champion and also win the race. The sentimental favorite, however, has to be Bobby Julich who has been very aggressive in races leading up to Sunday’s final in Philadelphia.

Things You Don’t See in Europe

In 1999, I was fortunate to spend the week after Memorial Day at my aunt’s house in suburban Philadelphia. Kristin, Andrew and I got to see the race in Trenton. Friday night they had a street festival and hill climb in Manayunk. All of the domestic teams were present and had riders race up the climb. After the pros were done, citizens were able to test themselves. All the local racers competed and tried it. What was most surprising was the large middle aged woman on what appeared to be a three speed with a sheep skin saddle who lined up and who took her turn racing against the clock. She was not decked out in lycra and obviously did not care how long it took her. That is something you don’t see in Europe.

Unconscionable Commercial Plug

Former pro and documentary filmmaker Jamie Paolinetti captured the essence of the Wachovia Week races in his film “Pro” which was shot over all three races last year. His first film “The Hard Road” captured the difficulty that small domestic teams faces when they take on the larger and stronger European teams and top level American teams during the Wachovia Week races. They are compelling films in that they show just how serious even the Europeans take the Wachovia Week races. And of course you can purchase both at www.cyclista.com.