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. 

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.