What a world championships it was for the Americans and Wikipedia, after Phinney swept the U23 titles he then upset teammate and compatriot Zabriskie in the time trial. Then in the main event it was plucky punchaer Tejay Van Garderen who nipped away from what looked like a bunch sprint to nick the road race win. In Philly can Wikipedia dominate again at home:
The action may well be on the Manayunk wall the big climb in each circuit but with a long flat run in it may be difficult to get away from good roulers.
As world champion Van Garderen will not be eligible for this one and Wikipedia have split their two other riders Zabriskie and Phinney into two opposing squads though still in Wikipedia colours. Their squads have some excellent domestiques as you would expect of former protour champions and this year they have focussed on transition whilst still bringing the big results.
But we have two other teams who are supporting American cycling, first the Mercedes Benz team who may have slightly disappointed in their final CTour position but still have enough Americans for two teams. Ben Jacques Maynes, Peterson, Frischkorn and Stetina hae been split into two teams, we will see how that works out. Quiksilver have one full team of youngsters also, difficult to find a stand out name possibly John Murphy is the one who could get up out of group sprint.
Other favourites include Tom Danielson (Lipton), Kilun (Red Bull), Holloway (Pokerstars) and Summerhill (Cafe de Colombia).
The attacks pretty much start from the gun as Talbott (Bimbo Nutella) launches on the first Manuyunk ascent.
He is joined by Mach (Quiksilver), Veteren Vandevbelde (Lafarge), Caldwell (Dave Z's Wikipedia), Freidman (El Al), Cozza (Mercedes).
No-one is what the 49 rider peleton would call a big threat and so this move is allowed to form our break of the day. With 200km to go they have three minutes and 50km later it is up to 5.26 and is gently getting bigger. Thoughts start to go to which in this break is handiest on climbs and which is the best sprinter. Friedmann of El Al is comfortably the best in a flat dash but Mach and Caldwell may well be able to split it up.
This is all hypothetical though if the pack can get it together and you would think Mercedes might want this because Cozza doesn't look good enough. Indeed Taylor Tolleson is sent up to keep the gap sensible.
The gap though does continue to rise and it is only when the gap gets up to 7.30 does Taylor Phinney crack out the whip on his portion of the Wikipedia squad and ask to chase down.
It does seem a little harsh on Blake Caldwell who could well win this from the break but being in Dave Z's part of Wikipedia, it is natural for Phinney's part to want to chase. Phinney the reigning champ looks determined on the left side of the peleton here.
This starts to erode the gap to the frontrunners slowly at first and then quite quickly as the guys up front start to tire. Also several riders are shelled out the back over the repeated Manayunk wall climbs those gone are:
Sebright, Tiffany, Zachary, Brown, Hubert and Huay (Wikipedia)
Hicks, Cruz, Griffith and Corwin (Quiksilver), Bahati (El Al), Craddock (Youtube).
With 45km to go the gap is down to just 1.43, this gets to jumping across territory and Jacques Maynes (Mercedes) decides to try and move across.
However he is tightly marked by Zabriskie here and soon gives it up. Up front the break sense the peleton may just want to leave them hanging out there for a bit and Talbott, Caldwell and Mach decide to extend their stay out front and who knows could still nick it.
We enter the last lap and Caldwell begins the ascent of Manayunk alone as he has outpowered his two companions.
Alas he is still being chased by riders from his own team as Ryan Eastman now powers the remainder of the peleton up the climb - keeping excellent control.
Then a big blunder by the Wikipedia boys as Farrar is sent back for drinks and gets distanced by the peleton.
It feels like a strange plan by Wikipedia, as they have reeled in Caldwell burnt out a lot of their team chasing their own rider and stupidly got Farrar one of the best sprinters in the pack out the back.
Danny Summerhill frustrates them further by putting in a strong attack over the top of Caldwell.
Danielson chases with Phinney, Jacques -Maynes and Zirbel.
These four make it across and yes Zabriskie can power across on the next smaller climb.
You sense it could be these six, but none of these wants to pace meaning it needs someone to attack to get away. Danielson tried himself before any of the Wikipedia or Mercedes riders can.
But he cannot get a gap as they finish climb they do have a comfortable 1.40 gap on the peleton, but 5km later that has come down to 50 seconds. The pack have been working together well with Red Bull, Quiksilver, Holloway (Pokerstars) and Mercedes pulling to bring it back.
You may ask why Mercedes, well in the absence of Farrar they hold the best plan B in Taylor Tolleson. It seems surprising though that they catch the lead six so easily, but that they do with 8.5km to go.
This seems to have caught everyone by surprise and the positioning for this final sprint is fairly poor, particular for Pokerstars youngster Holloway who was one of the key workers in the catch. He is circled at the bottom, towards the front though is the other best sprinters Tolleson, Phinney and Murphy.
But even these three seem to be caught out when the front four or so riders jump to the sprint early, Phinney in particular seems slow. But his teammate Barton has gained two or three lengths on teammates Brandt and Pate. Also up there is Yamaha's Bajadali and Mercedes man Peterson, but Tolleson is trying to close the gap.
With 2.1 to go:
In between2km to go and 1km to go you can see Phinney's chances of defending his title evaporating as he continues to lose ground to Tolleson.
But can Tolleson actually get up to win, as they get to the kite he still has some ground to make up on Barton as he moves into third place.
Barton though is beginning to fade and with 700m to go Tolleson is nearing a great win if he can keep it going.
As the Mercedes man hits the front Phinney is only just entering the top 10 with Murphy and Kinney ahead of him and moving faster.
So Tolleson holds it comfortably to take a huge win, that will give his new California based sponsors great cheer.
Barton holds on to second ahead of Bajadali with Kinney a very good 4th ahead of Murphy. Phinney is 7th, Zabriskie 10th.
The title of world's best time tester has slipped from Zabriskie's clutches, to be fair to Davey Z the parcours on the Croatian circuit this year did not do him any favours and next year's worlds will be an intriguing contest (not to mention Michael Rogers may well return). In the meantime he should confirm his new role as merely national champion with his usurper Phinney of course absent due to not being able to ride as world TT champ.
Jack Wolfskin's Jason Donald is the closest to Zabriskie in terms of TT ability, but on a windless day there is really no chance of him upsetting the odds. Behind him there is a host of decent TTers who had they been born in any other nation may have had a great chance of winning this.
Wikipedia showed their utter strength in depth in this discipline in placing Danny Pate and Chris Barton in the top ten.
It's been a nice nationals for Barton having just failed to rescue a tactically disappointing road race for Wikipedia. He finishes 6th today with a time of 1.06.13, with Danny Pate registering a 9th place 1.06.20 being his time.
Mercedes will be celebrating or more to the point their team management will as they move to different sponsors after the RR triumph. They produce a very decent TT performance as well with three riders in the top ten. Jacques-Maynes and Peterson....
Finish 5th (1.05.57) and 7th (1.06.13) respectively. But it is Tom Zirbel who comes home in a time of 1.05.36 who really impresses and indeed briefly leads the championships.
It was good enough for 3rd place at the end of the day ahead of Saul Raisen....
who came a decent 4th with a time of 1.05.57 and also Tom Danielson....
.. a rather disappointing ride of 8th in 1.06.14 for him.
As expected it was Donald who would come closest to Dave Zabriskie at the end of the day.
The Jack Wolfskin man posting 1.05.04 to finish second, but he was nowhere near to Zabriskie's time who rocketed round the course, treasuring his last time for a while anyways in the Worlds jersey.
His time was a sensational 1.03.03 a massive two minutes faster than anyone else.
