Triple Crown success

Rite Aid Pro cycling press release...these guys are rocking!

Rite Aid #1 Domestic Pro Team at Triple Crown of Cycling Wayne, Pennsylvania, June 11, 2007– Rite Aid Pro Cycling continues its banner year with success at one of the jewels of the UCI America Tour, the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling. This year’s Triple Crown featured a rain drenched and demanding 137km Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic, an expanded 121km mile Reading Classic with three climbs over Mt. Penn and the epic 251km Philadelphia International Championship. Rite Aid completed the week of racing with a 7th place finish at Lancaster, a 2nd place at Reading and a 4th at Philadelphia...with Alejandro Borrajo finishing 4th in the Triple Crown standings and Rite Aid as the number one placed pro domestic team, in both cases just behind CSC and T-Mobile. Lancaster saw the remnants of tropical storm Barry soaking the always fast technical downtown course. The race was marked by many early break attempts which the Rite Aid team led by Jake Rytlewski, Bill Elliston, Stephan Kincade and Ian Ayers covered keeping their sprinter Alejandro Borrajo in good position. Mid-race, Stephan was in a promising break that stayed away for nearly three laps, but the field reeled them back in. Out of the final break, which formed with just four laps to go, Bernard Eisel of T-Mobile made a solo move. The race split apart with one lap to go and Alejandro moved up with Danny Pate of Slipstream to contest for the final sprint. Alejandro dropped Pate and attempted to make catch Eisel and Sergey Lagutin of Navigators but ran out of road and was just caught by a hard chasing follow group, finishing 7th on the day. Reading featured a course lengthened with the addition of three circuits up Mt. Penn. The race was animated from the start with numerous attacks, as if it were a giant criterium. The main break of the day formed with four riders off the front building up to a minute on the fast field. The fast pace, over 26 miles an hour for the first half of the race, as well as the strength of Rite Aid riders Stephan Kincade and Jake Rytlewski, kept the break time from expanding beyond that and, eventually, the time gap came down as the field approached for the first of the three climbs up Mt. Penn. The field came back together with two laps remaining. Despite several efforts, a small group of 15 riders, including Alejandro Borrajo, used the climb to open a gap and fought for position coming into the final turn. Inside of 500 meters to go Eisel of T-Mobile got a jump and opened up a 25 meter lead which he was able to hold to the finish. Alejandro sprinted in ahead of a hard charging group finishing a strong second!

The third leg of the Triple Crown, the Philadelphia International Championship, saw the team ride perhaps its strongest race of the season. On a picture perfect day for a race, the attitude of the peloton was established on the opening parade laps,...fast and faster. The first large lap saw an average speed of over 27 mph, a pace continued all day...the race finished in record time. The high speeds made it difficult for any serious breaks to form. On the second lap, while Rite Aid dealt with three mechanicals, a breakaway looked to be forming with Navigators, BMC, Priority Health, AEG-Toshiba, Rock Racing, Toyota United, CSC, Slipstream-Chipotle, Jittery Joe’s, T-Mobile, Health Net-Maxxis and Kodak Gallery all represented. Once the team fixed two flats and a brake problem, the boys went to the front and started to drill it. The break had been gaining time fast, the gap having moved from 10 seconds to 35 and finally to one minute withinone lap . With Rite Aid working at the front, the gap started to come down. Joined by Kelly Benefits and Jelly Belly, the boys whittled the gap down to 30 seconds. Navigators finally joined the chase and, by the fourth time up the wall, the break was finally reeled in. The group stayed together for the next couple of laps with riders testing the field in two’s and three’s. Finally these small groups coalesced, led by Rite Aid rider Jake Rytlewski, who drove the pace. This group, comprised of riders from Tecos, Caico, Kelly, Health Net and CSC established a gap which lasted for nearly two laps before being absorbed by the hard charging field. The last climb up the infamous Wall in Manayunk failed to break up the field so the stage for a field sprint finish had been set. Rite Aid star Alejandro Borrajo was tucked in behind CSC and T-Mobile who had moved to the front of a pack of 50 riders entering the closing loop around the Parkway. Coming into the finishing straight, a crash took down half the field but Alejandro was safe in the lead group as the long drag race to the finish began. Sitting seventh wheel in the final group of 15, Alejandro timed his sprint passing all but two CSC and one T-mobile rider, garnering a 4th place finish, missing the podium by only a bike length. He also finished 4th in Triple Crown points, with the team finishing number one among all domestic pro teams. All in all, a great week of racing for the Rite Aid team and its sponsors.