Rasmussen sprints to victory in 2011 cycling classic

Check out our video of race day below. 

It was a thrilling end to the nearly six-hour Philadelphia International Cycling Championship in Philadelphia on Sunday. 

After a frantic sprint to the finish line on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Denmark’s Alex Rasmussen of the HTC-Highroad Cycling team won the 156-mile competition, logging in at 5 hours, 59 minutes and 4 seconds. Just behind him was Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Canondale, followed by Robert Forster of Team UnitedHealthcare. 

Not only was Rasmussen the first to cross the finish line, but he beat last year’s winning time by nearly 15 minutes. 

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Most of the action took place in the final lap with a crash involving a dozen riders on the Logan Circle loop. 

The cyclists completed 10 laps of a 14.4 mile circuit which ran from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the legendary Manayunk Wall, followed by three laps of Lemon Hill and Logan Circle.  

The race founder’s son and first-time participant, Michael Chauner, came in 39th after he tried to help his Swedish teammate and upcoming talent Jonas Ahlstrand, who was in 10th place at the time, get into a good position. Ahlstrand was one of the cyclists who fell in the last lap. 

In the women’s race, the 57.6-mile Liberty Classic, Giorgia Bronzini of the Colavita Forno d’Asolo team took the lead at 2 hours, 28 minutes and 28 seconds. The Italian sprinter beat out American Shelley Olds of the Diadora-Pasta Zara crew and Jennifer Purcell of the Connecticut-based Danbury Audi squad.

The more than 100 women completed four laps of the same 14.4 mile course as the men. 

For a list of official results, go to the men’s results page and women’s results page

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