Nature Valley Grand Prix
MinnesotaStage 4: Mankato Road Race
June 17, 2006
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Click image for photo galleryMenzies gets own birthday present at Nature Valley
By James Lockwood
On Thursday, Karl Menzies said Health Net's win was a present to the team's director, who was celebrating his birthday.On Saturday, it was his turn to receive.
The birthday boy fought through four 1-kilometer climbs pitching at 14 percent to roll through the finish of the fourth stage of Great River Energy's Nature Valley Grand Prix. Menzies gave all the credit to his teammate and new overall leader, Greg Henderson.
"I think Hendie wrapped [the victory] up, put a bow on it and delivered it to me," the Tasmanian said after the 86-mile road race in Mankato, Minn.
Henderson, who for the first time in five tries did not win a road race, said he was all too pleased to see Menzies take the win. "I looked over my shoulder and saw no one coming around," he said.
"This is just as sweet," Henderson continued. "He takes the stage, and I take the yellow jersey. It's perfect."
With a 15-second time bonus for first, and a 10-second time bonus for second, Henderson moved into first on GC, followed by Menzies four seconds later. Their teammate, Nathan O'Neill, dropped to third overall, finishing in the lead group.
O'Neill, who was one of the main protagonists on the finishing circuits, said it was no loss to have the win go to Menzies and the jersey go to Henderson. "That was perfect," he said.
As easy as the win looked for Health Net, with Menzies and Henderson just rolling through the finish, the day proved to be much harder. While a lead pack featuring both Health Net and Navigator's Insurance formed early, it was a chess match to see who would be willing to do the work. Winds played their part to split the peloton, but tactics played a bigger part, and that kept the peloton intact longer than anticipated.
"Today was a lot about tactics," Navigator's Bernard Van Ulden said. "Health Net wanted us to go into autopilot and start working, and that was not going to happen."
Navigator's reluctance to play the game - along with teams in the break missing some key riders - shut down a break of about 24 riders that had formed 18 miles into the race and built an advantage of 40 seconds. With the crosswinds in the farm country, the break would have stuck, but lack of teamwork among the various riders led to the chase catching back on nine miles later.
While Wheel & Sprocket's Brandon Gavic tried a solo attack immediately after, the next real attack did not occur until just before the feed at mile 33. Coming out of a corner into the crosswinds just before the feed zone, Health Net moved to the front and accelerated. It proved to be the break of the day, with Navigators, Toyota-United, Jelly Belly, and two others making the cut.
The break featured some of the strongest riders in the peloton: Health Net's O'Neill, Henderson, Menzies, Tim Johnson, Gord Fraser and Kirk O'Bee; Navigator's Van Ulden, Hilton Clarke, Oleg Grichkine, and Siro Camponogara; Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic, Sterling Magnell and Josh Thornton; Jelly Belly's Brice Jones and Matt Rice; TargeTraining's Frank Pipp; and Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home's Jonathan Page.
Missing from the break was Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada, and that kept the gap steady at around 90 seconds and the pressure on the break.
"That's why everyone had to ride," Menzies said the work in the break. "People were just burying themselves."
A couple of times, the gap started to drop, but each time riders would find some food, energy, and a little push from others in the break and managed to hold the gap.
Entering the circuit, the lead pack came through all together except for one - Grichkine, who flatted just a few blocks from the circuit. It was the second road race in a row Navigators lost a member of the break to a flat.
"Losing Oleg was huge," said Navigator's director sportif Ray Cipollini. "He's such a motor."
With Grichkine out, that left Health Net in the driver's seat with six men in the break. Navigator's only had four. "There's only so much you can do," Cipollini said.
Most of the group stayed together the first lap, with Clarke taking the King of the Hills points. As the group entered the climb the second time, things shattered. Pipp - who took the sprinter's jersey with the day's ride - accelerated with Menzies, and riders started falling out the back.
"I have to give credit to TargeTraining and Pipp," Menzies said. "He was one of the strongest guys out there."
Behind them, Henderson, O'Neill, Van Ulden, Milne, Clarke, Thornton, and Page started to settle into a rhythm. While Menzies and Pipp's lead never grew large, it was enough for them hold starting up the third time. Up the climb, Milne and Henderson joined.
Then O'Neill attacked. In his big ring, he sped away from the pack, taking only Thornton with him. Van Ulden was suffering and losing his grip on third place GC. Going through the start/finish line, it was Milne, Henderson, Menzies, O'Neill, Pipp, and Thornton.
Pipp and Milne were in no position to hurt Health Net, and a game of cat-and-mouse began to see who would work. That allowed Van Ulden, Clarke, Stevic, and Page to catch back on.
"It was like a track ride out there," Van Ulden said. "Today was a lot of tactics."
On the last time up the climb, O'Neill accelerated again, taking Pipp, Milne, Henderson, and Stevic with. Van Ulden and Menzies looked to be popped as the leaders rolled over the summit.
O'Neill said with Van Ulden back, he did not think Menzies would be in too much trouble for the finish. "I figured Van Ulden would try to get back on and pull Menzies with him.
Van Ulden said that was pretty much what happened. "I was the convenient guy in the right spot."
It also helped Menzies that no one up front was challenging for the win before the finishing straight."No one in the group had any acceleration at all," O'Neill said. "It made my job easy."
As Menzies and Van Ulden sped down the hill, Menzies saw his chance to get back on and assume his duties pulling Henderson to the line. Only Pipp gave any shot of breaking Health Net.
"I just thought I didn't want to wait around and let it come down to a sprint," he said. "Health Net was just going to take it to the line. So I gave it a little shot about 1.5 kilometers from the finish."
But O'Neill, Menzies, and Henderson proved too strong and the course too tight.
"It was just so short through the last two corners," said Clarke, who nipped Stevic at the line for third place. "I don't think any of us were expecting that."
Despite having three Health Net riders in the top three, Cipollini said the race is not done, with Van Ulden sitting fourth 19 seconds back. "We'll do what we can [in the last stage]," he said. "The game is not over."
The Nature Valley Grand Prix concludes Sunday with a fifth stage criterium in Stillwater, Minn., featuring a finishing climb pitching at 18 percent.
Rider Team Karl Menzies Health Net presented by Maxxis Greg Henderson Health Net presented by Maxxis Hilton Clarke Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Ivan Stevic Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Jonathon Page Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Frank Pipp TARGETRAINING Shawn Milne Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Bernard Van Ulden Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Nathan O'Neill Health Net presented by Maxxis Gordon Fraser Health Net presented by Maxxis Josh Thornton Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Matt Rice Jelly Belly Cycling Team Stefano Barberi * Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Caleb Manion Jelly Belly Cycling Team Hayden Brooks *# Subaru Cycling Team Scottie Weiss # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani Steve Tilford # Trek/Shimano Paul Esposti # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Alexander Boyd * VMG Racing Michael Grabinger # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Mike Olheiser # MMW/CARVE Jed Schneider # Subaru Cycling Team Jason Donald # Team Einstein's Cycling Johnny Hayes # CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Stefan Rothe # Mercy Cycling Martin Gilbert Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Tim Johnson Health Net presented by Maxxis Siro Camponogara Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Jason Klikna # BMC Racing Team Reid Mumford # ABD Cycling Team Adam Froemming # FLANDERS/MBRC Scott Zwizanski Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Sterling Magnell Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Aric Hareland # Hollywood Cycles/Silver Cycling Brandon Gavic *# Wheel & Sprocket Erik Dahl # FLANDERS/MBRC Frank Dierking # ABD Cycling Team Jackson Stewart Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team David Zimmerman *# FLANDERS/MBRC Pete Hanna # Bianchi/Grand Performance Brian Bibens # Subaru Cycling Team Kirk O,Bee Health Net presented by Maxxis Brice Jones Jelly Belly Cycling Team Terry Beenken # Bianchi/Grand Performance Ryan Nenninger # Mercy-Specialized Jonathan Parrish *# LANDIS/TREK/VW Spencer Beamer * VMG Racing Rudy Robaina VMG Racing Oleg Grichkine Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Chris Ruhl *# CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Chad Nikolz # Broadmark / Hagens-Berman Duane Dickey # Bianchi/Grand Performance Ben Raby # Bianchi/Grand Performance Cole House *# Endeavour Josh Bezecny TARGETRAINING David Guttenplan *# Subaru Cycling Team Owen Gue *# Broadmark / Hagens-Berman Andrew Guptill TARGETRAINING Osvaldo Olmos # BMC Racing Team Bill Stolte # HRRC/CollegePoint/Specialized/BikeSource Ken Hanson # BMC Racing Team Dave Mccook Jelly Belly Cycling Team Dale Sedgwick # Bianchi/Grand Performance Shane Weaver # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani Jonathan Garcia # Team Einstein's Cycling Eric Marcotte # Bianchi/Grand Performance Nick Reistad Jelly Belly Cycling Team Jason Snider # Hollywood Cycles/Silver Cycling Ian Stanford # Nature Valley Racing Team Owen Laine *# BMC Racing Team Thomas Luke # HRRC/CollegePoint/Specialized/BikeSource David Robinson Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Jon Randall # ALL9YARDS.COM CYCLING TEAM Dan Swanson # Nature Valley Racing Team Matt Williams # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Jarred Berger # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Andy Minier # Nature Valley Racing Team Chris Kuhl *# CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Michael Dietrich Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Brian Dziewa # Mercy Cycling David Sachs # Vision Quest Chris Harkey # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani T. Burke Swindlehurst Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Philip Wikoff # Team Hotel San Jose Jack Seehafer Team Einstein's Cycling Bryce Mead # ABD Cycling Team Jacob Rosenbarger # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Peter Fairbanks # Bianchi/Grand Performance Scott Nydam # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Riders after time limit Barkley Robinson # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Thomas Soladay # LSV/Kelly Benefit Strategies Andrew Bajadali Jelly Belly Cycling Team Brian Jensen Jelly Belly Cycling Team Riders dropping out Dan Schmatz Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Mike Jones Health Net presented by Maxxis Corey Steinbrecher Jelly Belly Cycling Team Matt Shriver TARGETRAINING Mat Stephens # Mercy Cycling Guy East *# CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Mike Ebert # ABD Cycling Team John Puffer # ABD Cycling Team Kyle Barbary # BMC Racing Team David Rodriguez # BMC Racing Team Andrew Crater # Wheel & Sprocket Morgan Wiswall # Wheel & Sprocket Ralph Henderson # ALL9YARDS.COM CYCLING TEAM Daniel Casper # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Jay Henderson # Hollywood Cycles/Silver Cycling The following competitors were signed out from the race: Team Reason
