The Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic was a professional

road bicycle race Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most common ...

held in late May or early June between 1992 and 2007 in

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

, USA. With the exception of the first race, which was , the Lancaster Classic covered about . Due to the "short, winding hills," it had a very low attrition rate, with 37% of starters finishing the race on average. 2003's 14% attrition was lower than that of the

2021 Tour de France The 2021 Tour de France was the 108th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three grand tours. Originally planned for the Danish capital of Copenhagen, the start of the 2021 Tour (known as the ) was transferred to Brest because of the ...

, in which 23% of starters finished.

History

The race was established in part by Lancaster mayor Janice Stork, along with sponsor

CoreStates Financial Corporation CoreStates Financial Corporation, previously known as Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), was an American bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. The bank was renamed in the mid-1980s after a series of mergers. Af ...

(and its acquisitions, Hamilton Bank,

First Union First Union Corporation was a bank holding company that provided commercial and retail banking services in eleven states in the eastern U.S. First Union also provided various other financial services, including mortgage banking, credit card, inv ...

, and

Wachovia National Bank Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

), in an attempt to revitalize the downtown area. The race underwent several name changes: * CoreStates Hamilton Classic (1992-1996) * CoreStates Invitational (1997) * First Union Invitational (1998-2002) * Wachovia Lancaster Invitational (2003-2005) * Commerce Bank Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic (2006-2007) ** Named in memory of a late CoreStates Hamilton Bank executive. It was part of the following tours: * ICP Tour of America (1993-1996) * CoreStates USPRO Cycling Championship (1997) * First Union Cycling Series (1998-2002) * USPRO Saturn Tour (1999-2000) * USPRO Championship (2001) * Wachovia Cycling Series (2003-2005) * Wachovia USPRO Championship (2004-2005) *

Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling The TD Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, formerly known as the Commerce Bank Triple Crown of Cycling, was a three-race series of road bicycle racing events held in the United States that ran from 2006-2008. The series consisted of the Lancaster Classic ...

(first leg) (2006) * UCI America (2006) * US Cycling Pro Tour (2007) In 2006, two additional races were added: the women's and elite amateur men's race lasted for and , respectively, around a circuit in downtown Lancaster. The Lancaster Classic ended abruptly after the 2007 event and was replaced by the Lehigh Valley Classic in nearby

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

Winners

Men's

Women's

Amateur men's

References

{{reflist Sports in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Cycle races in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1992 1992 establishments in Pennsylvania UCI America Tour races 2007 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Men's road bicycle races Road bicycle races Defunct cycling races in the United States Sports competitions in Pennsylvania