Philly Cycling Classic
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The Philadelphia International Championship was an annual
bicycle race "Bicycle Race" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album ''Jazz'' and written by Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a double A-side single together with the song " Fat Bottomed Girls", re ...
held in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. It was described as "America's top international cycling classic, and one of the richest and most prestigious one day races outside of Europe." It was one of the longest single-day races in the U.S. at . The men's event was ranked 1.1 by the International Cycling Union (UCI), the sport's governing body, which made it the highest ranked single-day race in the Western Hemisphere after the
UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...
Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal and Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec. It was part of the
UCI America Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, the ...
. The race had existed since 1985, but its name changed a number of times, because of the changing of names of its corporate sponsors, due to bank
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. The title sponsor was originally
CoreStates CoreStates Financial Corporation, previously known as Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), was an American bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. The bank was renamed in the mid-1980s after a series of mergers. A ...
Bank, followed by
First Union First Union Corporation was a bank holding company that provided commercial bank, commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the Eastern United States, eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, incl ...
Bank in 1998, then
Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...
Bank in 2002. In November 2005, Wachovia withdrew its sponsorship. With assistance from former Philadelphia mayor and then-Pennsylvania governor
Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...
, a corporate sponsor was found in 2006; Commerce Bank made a four-year commitment. Due to its acquisition by Toronto-Dominion Bank in 2007, Commerce Bank became
TD Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (), doing business as TD Bank Group (), is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through ...
in 2008. The Philadelphia International Championship was once the final leg of a one-week, 3-race circuit called the TD Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. The races took place in
Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...
,
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and Philadelphia. The opening race was the
Lancaster Classic The Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic was a professional road bicycle race held in late May or early June between 1992 and 2007 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA. With the exception of the first race, which was , the Lancaster Classic covered about . ...
, followed four days later by the Reading Classic, with the finale in Philadelphia three days after that. Through 2005, the highest placed finisher registered in the United States was named the USPRO champion, whether or not he won the race. The race was often called the USPRO Championship; however,
USA Cycling USA Cycling or USAC, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the national governing body for bicycle racing in the United States. It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and BMX across all ages and ability levels. ...
, the national governing body, stripped the Philadelphia race of the USPRO title, wanting to limit the race to Americans. Local organizers insisted the field remain open to the pros from all around the world. There was a men's and a women's race, the latter called the '' Liberty Classic''. The seven-lap men's race consisted of a three-lap opening circuit, followed by seven laps of the primary circuit, then a five-lap 4.8 km closing circuit. The total distance was . The women's race was on the same course but started later and was shorter: 4 laps of the primary circuit for . The race started on the
Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city as of 2020. The parkway is named ...
and then headed along
Kelly Drive A kelly drive is a type of well drilling device on an oil or gas drilling rig that employs a section of pipe with a polygonal (three-, four-, six-, or eight-sided) or Rotating spline, splined outer surface, which passes through the matching pol ...
into the northwest section of the city, through
East Falls East Falls (also The Falls, formerly the Falls of Schuylkill) is a neighborhood in Lower Northwest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schu ...
, Manayunk, and Roxborough, then returned to the Parkway and Logan Circle to complete its loop, passing parts of
Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, w ...
along the way. Top cyclists who have participated include
Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at th ...
, who won the race in 1985,
Greg LeMond Gregory James LeMond (born June 26, 1961) is an American former Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He won the Tour de France thrice and the UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, Road Race World Championship twice, becoming t ...
, and
Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...
, who started his professional career when he won the race in 1993. The cancellation of the 2017 races was announced by the UCI at the end of January 2017, citing difficulty in obtaining sponsorship resulting in financial difficulties for the organisers.


Manayunk Wall

In
bicycling terminology This is a glossary of terms and jargon used in cycling, mountain biking, and cycle sport. For ''parts of a bicycle'', see List of bicycle parts. 0–9 ; 27.5 Mountain bike: A mountain bike with wheels that are approximately in diameter and ...
, a "wall" is a steep incline. The Manayunk Wall, located by Jerry Casale and David Chauner when they were laying out the course in 1985, refers to Levering Street and Lyceum Avenue in northwest Philadelphia. It begins at Main Street and Levering Street in the neighborhood of Manayunk, proceeds on the well-worn cobblestone Cresson Street under the elevated railway, then back on to Levering Street. Most of the Wall is part of Levering Street, but it becomes Lyceum Avenue at Tower Street. The steepest section, a 17-percent grade, commences just after the slight left turn when going up at the intersection with Tower Street, and ends at the intersection with Fleming street. It becomes less steep on the stretch with O'Brien's as it crosses Manayunk Avenue. It nearly flattens and ends at Pechin Street in Roxborough, which most news crews set up for broadcasting. The right turn off Lyceum Avenue onto Pechin Street begins The Fall from the Wall. Manayunk Avenue is the boundary of Manayunk and Roxborough. O'Brien's Water Hole along the wall sets up a water sprinkler for cyclists to ride through. In early years, no one seemed to mind but as the race became more important, it was criticized as a distraction and reduced. On June 5, 2002, Manayunk designated the 17-percent grade as the Manayunk Wall. Olympic gold medalist Marty Nothstein presented a plaque.


Downhill Race

At midnight, the morning of the international championship, an unlicensed race down The Wall took place from 1996 to 2006. "The Downhill" was conceived at Dawson Street Pub. Racers gathered there to walk to The Wall. The race started at Manayunk Avenue and Lyceum Avenue and continued to the bottom of the hill or until where police blocked the street. The race included BMX bikes, tricycles, shopping carts, wheelchairs, skateboards, bed frames and roller skates. The event grew in popularity after being promoted on a radio station in 2003 and several thousand spectators attended in 2006. A young man was injured during the 2006 race when he was blindsided by another individual who was careening down the wall in a shopping cart. Police are generally credited as permanently stopping the race. On September 6, 2008, the
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/ref> was held at the Manayunk Wall.


Past winners


General classification

* Also served as USPRO Championships for USA riders up to 2005


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See also

*
Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
* List of road bicycle racing events


References


External links

*{{official website, http://philadelphiainternationalcyclingclassic.com/
Harvard Business Review reportHoovers reviewDownhill Race Video
Cycle races in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1985 1985 establishments in Pennsylvania Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2016 2016 disestablishments in Pennsylvania UCI America Tour races Cycling in Philadelphia Sports competitions in Pennsylvania