Philadelphia, PA - Kirk O'Bee of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis rode a tremendous team effort to 2nd place in a sizzling Philadelphia International Championship Sunday, coming within half a wheel of the top step of the podium in the final leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown.

"The entire team did a great job today. Everything went according to plan," O'Bee said. "Tim (Johnson) and Kyle (Gritters) went to the front going into the last time up the Manyunk wall to help bring the gap down to the break and bring things back together.

"When we got to the final three small circuits, there were four of us and we decided to sit in and wait for the sprint," O'Bee continued. "John (Murphy), Frank (Pipp) and Rory (Sutherland) helped close down a couple attacks. And Rory got off the front on the final lap and that made a few teams chase and took some pressure off of us."

Coming into the last lap, the roughly 60-strong peloton - a surprisingly large group given that the 156-mile race was run in temperatures that peaked at 98* F - was poised for the sprint.

"I was near the back of the pack coming into the final kilometer," O'Bee explained. "Frank was with me and he did a great job of moving me up to about 10th wheel coming out of the round-about on Ben Franklin Parkway. Murph came up next to me and said "Let's go." and I grabbed his wheel. He started his lead-out and dropped me off at about 250 meters to go.

"It was a headwind finish so it was a bit too early to go. I looked behind me and I saw (Matti) Breschel (CSC) coming up the left side. He got past me and I jumped on his wheel. I went at 100 meters and started to come around him but I just ran out of room.

The 2nd place was O'Bee's best result ever in Philly. "We raced really well as a team today," O'Bee said. "If it wasn't for the rest of the guys, I wouldn't have been there at the end."

Health Net Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Mike Tamayo agreed with O'Bee's assessment. "Tim and Kyle were great chasing, and Frank, John, Rory and Kirk all did a great job at the end. Murphy worked all day and was still there at the finish to lead out."

O'Bee's 2nd place capped a strong week for Health Net Presented by Maxxis on the East Coast. It started with Karl Menzies' 3rd place at the CSC Invitational last Sunday, which he followed with a photo-finish 2nd place two days later at the inaugural Lehigh Valley Classic, which officially kicked of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown.

Two days later, Frank Pipp narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth in the Reading Classic before O'Bee's close 2nd today.

Notes

Under the old format, when Philly was also the USPro Championship race, O'Bee would've been crowned the U.S. national champion, as well. He is the current U.S. Criterium National Champion.

Out of 190 starters, only 81 finished the race.

Due to a crash during the Reading Classic, Menzies did not take the start in Philadelphia. Matt Crane started in his place.

The Local News is Good

While the bulk of the team was working in Pennsylvania, two of the team's riders were finding the going good back in their respective home regions. Young Health Net Presented by Maxxis climber Matt Cooke lived up to his reputation by taking out the 18-mile Mike Horgan Hill Climb near his home in Boulder. Part of the course is run on dirt roads.

"I made my move on the 13% section and bridged across on the dirt section to the break," Cooke said. "From there I attacked solo with 1 km to go for the win."

On the West Coast, Roman Kilun of Health Net Presented by Maxxis showed that his time trialing form is building from his top-20 result in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic time trial a month ago. Last weekend, he took out the win in the Dunlap TT. Sunday, he ventured up to Sattley, near Truckee in the Sierras for the Northern California/Nevada Cycling Association district time trial championships Sunday, and proceeded to set a new course record in taking out the win.

Kilun posted a time of 49:40 for the 40 km TT, besting by 10 seconds the previous record set by multiple Canadian time trial champion Eric Wohlberg in 2003.

"I knew exactly how fast I had to go to break the record and I did it," Kilun said. "I was getting a bit tired at the end, but there was a tailwind, which helped." Kilun will return to the Sierras next weekend to contest the legendary Nevada City Classic.