Nature Valley Grand Prix
MinnesotaStage 8: Stillwater Criterium
June 18, 2006
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Click image for photo galleryHealth Net gives stage to sweep podium at Nature Valley
By James Lockwood
Sometimes you have to let the race go to win.At least, that is what Health Net thought in the last stage of Great River Energy's Nature Valley Grand Prix.
With three guys sitting one, two and three on the general classification – and another 26 seconds out in fifth place – the National Racing Calendar event was theirs to lose. And while Greg Henderson eventually lost the jersey finishing 12 seconds off the pace, the jersey stayed in the team and gave Karl Menzies the overall victory.
And Health Net finished 1-2-3 at the end.
"It's not often you can sweep the podium at an NRC event," said Health Net's director sportif Jeff Corbett.
"You can't get too greedy," said Menzies, who was the third Health Net rider to win a race at the event on Saturday. "At the end of the day, we wanted to get the top 3."
While Health Net's eyes trained on the overall standings, Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic had his eye on a little redemption for the team, which had been shut out of the podium all week and only figured once in the final sprint during the five days of racing. Early in Sunday's race, he snuck away from the Health Net-led pack, joined forces with Team Einstein's Jason Donald, and then worked with Jelly Belly's Caleb Manion to take the first victory at Nature Valley for the first-year squad.
"I wasn't dangerous for [Health Net] in the break, so the they let me go," Stevic said.
The win was important for him and the team, said the Toyota-United rider who was edged off the podium in stage four by 2 inches.
"Day after day, we were just not doing good," he said. "We were pretty tired coming from Philly.
"This was the best way to finish the stage race. We needed this for the morale."
Stevic gave credit to Manion for pushing the pace and maintaining the gap that allowed the two to finish one-two on the stage.
"To be honest, I was suffering a lot," Stevic said. "I think he used a lot of energy in that effort."
Manion, though, threw the accolades back to Stevic. "I guess the best man won at the end."
Not only did Stevic suffer from the effort – the 1.2-mile course featured a 50-meter finishing climb of 18 percent – so did Navigator Insurance's Shawn Milne, who was with the duo half of the race but failed to match the effort of Manion's when it counted. Sitting 54 seconds back on GC, he could have been a threat for the podium, but at that moment, tactics changed for Navigator's, and with about five laps to go, the Navigators best placed GC rider, Bernard Van Ulden, attacked out of the lead group to bridge to Milne and try to shake things up.
"I was feeling pretty good," Van Ulden said. "I took a couple of hits. I wanted to go down fighting."
Sitting fourth, he was the biggest threat to a Health Net sweep, and they weren't going to let him go. Menzies quickly marked Van Ulden, and any chance of the young Navigator's rider finding a place on the podium quickly dropped.
"The only thing that worried us was if we got complacent and let Van Ulden slip away," said Health Net's Nathan O'Neill, who finished third overall.
Menzies, who had been working all day near the front to protect Henderson, said the attack was nothing for him to match since the team had not been pushing the pace but just marshalling the front.
"I was never tired," he said. "We knew what we had to do. We knew we had to mark Van Ulden."
Others noticed the pace – or lack there of.
"For me, it was a game of wait-and-see," said Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home's Jonathan Page, who took third on the stage. "People weren't attacking. For me, I like to race my bike, not sit on the back of Health Net."
Navigator's director sportif, Ray Cipollini, gave credit to Health Net for their strength and tactics.
"The made no mistakes all week," he said. "The opportunities we had were limited at best. We did what we could wit the resources we had."
Maybe the only mistake was made by Henderson, who misinterpreted the results at the finish and looked a bit disappointed when he learned that he lost the jersey.
"I just thought we had to finish with the bunch," said Henderson, who collapsed at the top of the final climb up the hill. "The last lap was so hard."
Still, he found consolation with the fact that the jersey stayed with the team, something they held all week.
"To have the yellow jersey go to a teammate is fine," he said.
Menzies said he was happy to have the jersey, although he saved his jubilant spirit for the podium where he celebrated with Henderson and O'Neill.
"It's so close. This team is so tight. Who's in the jersey doesn't really matter," he said.
Rider Team Ivan Stevic Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Caleb Manion Jelly Belly Cycling Team Jonathon Page Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Karl Menzies Health Net presented by Maxxis Frank Pipp TARGETRAINING Jackson Stewart Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Brian Dziewa # Mercy Cycling Paul Esposti # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Nathan O'Neill Health Net presented by Maxxis Frank Dierking # ABD Cycling Team Scott Zwizanski Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Bernard Van Ulden Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Hilton Clarke Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Matt Rice Jelly Belly Cycling Team Greg Henderson Health Net presented by Maxxis Steve Tilford # Trek/Shimano Jonathan Garcia # Team Einstein's Cycling Tim Johnson Health Net presented by Maxxis Josh Thornton Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Scottie Weiss # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani T. Burke Swindlehurst Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Reid Mumford # ABD Cycling Team Jacob Rosenbarger # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Gordon Fraser Health Net presented by Maxxis Shawn Milne Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Mike Olheiser # MMW/CARVE Ian Stanford # Nature Valley Racing Team Alexander Boyd * VMG Racing Jason Donald # Team Einstein's Cycling Aric Hareland # Hollywood Cycles/Silver Cycling Johnny Hayes # CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Stefan Rothe # Mercy Cycling Michael Grabinger # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Hayden Brooks *# Subaru Cycling Team Jed Schneider # Subaru Cycling Team Andy Minier # Nature Valley Racing Team Peter Fairbanks # Bianchi/Grand Performance Stefano Barberi * Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Chad Nikolz # Broadmark / Hagens-Berman Ben Raby # Bianchi/Grand Performance Jonathan Parrish *# LANDIS/TREK/VW Adam Froemming # FLANDERS/MBRC Martin Gilbert Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Bryce Mead # ABD Cycling Team Owen Gue *# Broadmark / Hagens-Berman Eric Marcotte # Bianchi/Grand Performance Nick Reistad Jelly Belly Cycling Team David Robinson Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team David Guttenplan *# Subaru Cycling Team Jarred Berger # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Jason Snider # Hollywood Cycles/Silver Cycling Josh Bezecny TARGETRAINING Erik Dahl # FLANDERS/MBRC Brandon Gavic *# Wheel & Sprocket Andrew Guptill TARGETRAINING Owen Laine *# BMC Racing Team Philip Wikoff # Team Hotel San Jose David Sachs # Vision Quest Duane Dickey # Bianchi/Grand Performance Rudy Robaina VMG Racing Cole House *# Endeavour David Zimmerman *# FLANDERS/MBRC Brian Bibens # Subaru Cycling Team Jon Randall # ALL9YARDS.COM CYCLING TEAM Dale Sedgwick # Bianchi/Grand Performance Chris Ruhl *# CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Chris Kuhl *# CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25 Spencer Beamer * VMG Racing Bill Stolte # HRRC/CollegePoint/Specialized/BikeSource Matt Williams # Grandstay/Out N About Gear Jack Seehafer Team Einstein's Cycling Chris Harkey # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani Pete Hanna # Bianchi/Grand Performance Sterling Magnell Toyota-United Pro Cycling team Riders dropping out Michael Dietrich Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team Kirk O,Bee Health Net presented by Maxxis Andrew Bajadali Jelly Belly Cycling Team Brian Jensen Jelly Belly Cycling Team Brice Jones Jelly Belly Cycling Team Dave Mccook Jelly Belly Cycling Team Siro Camponogara Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Oleg Grichkine Navigators Insurance Cycling Team Thomas Soladay # LSV/Kelly Benefit Strategies Ken Hanson # BMC Racing Team Jason Klikna # BMC Racing Team Osvaldo Olmos # BMC Racing Team Scott Nydam # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Barkley Robinson # Rio Grande/Sports Garage Shane Weaver # Hincapie Sports/Bianchi/ Dasani Terry Beenken # Bianchi/Grand Performance Thomas Luke # HRRC/CollegePoint/Specialized/BikeSource Ryan Nenninger # Mercy-Specialized Dan Swanson # Nature Valley Racing Team
