PHILADELPHIA — Jelly Belly p/b Kenda raced to a stellar result Sunday as Ken Hanson placed fourth and Alex Hagman won the King of the Mountains competition at the TD Bank International Cycling Championship.
The most prestigious one-day race in the U.S. consisted of 10 laps around a 23.2-km circuit, including an 800-meter climb at the famous Manayunk Wall.
The team’s strategy was to put a rider in the breakaway to compete for the KOM, and allow the other riders to rest for the final laps to put Hanson in place for a sprint.
Will Dickeson got into the first breakaway, which was caught after a few miles. Then Hagman caught on with a group that stayed away for 70 miles, with KOM points on every lap at the Manayunk Wall and Lemon Hill. The field finally caught Hagman with 46 miles to go — after he’d secured the climber’s jersey.
Then Hanson, a sprinter in his first year with Jelly Belly p/b Kenda, battled to the finish with several Pro Tour riders to take fourth place.
“I’m very happy with the team’s results. It took us a few months to start working together as a team,” said director Danny Van Haute. “I was getting a little worried about the boys, but not anymore.”
