Mike Friedman leads an early breakaway.
The third annual Commerce Bank Reading Classic – a replacement for what had long been a super-fast sprintfest in Trenton, NJ – was once again held under hot and humid conditions. The heat has been a huge factor this week. And with the forecast for Sunday showing a good bit warmer yet (high of 95!), it’s looking like it’ll be a brutal day in Philly.
Today was aggressive from the gun with group after group exchanging small leads ahead of the field. I joined a large group with a number of the heavy hitters with three laps to go. But a few too many names snuck in there and the cooperation to stick wasn’t present. Next up came a move led by Oscar Sevilla that ended up providing him with a solid launch platform for a solo win. We all put in some solid work trying to control the gap, but Sevilla was on fire and ended up with a hard won victory. Salut!
We ended up with a few of us in the lead split of the peloton, but with no real selection on the climb, there were a number of the sprinters still around. So we rolled in mid-bunch. Sunday to go!
Slipstream Results
1. Oscar Sevilla 2:47’11″
14. Martijn Maaskant
34. Will Frischkorn
96. Mike Friedman
98. Steven Cozza
101. Blake Caldwell
110. Tyler Farrar
DNF Magnus Backstedt
DNF Jason Donald
