THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Health Net continues to dominate Nature Valley
Health Net/Maxxis director Jeff Corbet was in good spirits Thursday evening.
His rider, New Zealander GregHenderson had just won his fourth road race in as many tries, grabbed another podium spot with a strong third-place finish by KarlMenzies and the team’s talented time trialist Nathan O’Neill held onto the leader’s jersey after the second stage of Great River Energy’s Nature Valley Grand Prix.
Oh, yeah, and it was Corbet’s birthday, as Menzies proudly announced afterdelivering Henderson to the line and holding for the podium spot in the 58.5-mile Cannon Falls Road Race.
“That was gold,” Menzies said with the day’s finish.
Henderson, who just nipped Navigator Insurance’s OlegGrichkine for his fourth straight road race victory, was a bit moresubdued, although not less modest.
“It just shows how strong we are,” he said after finishing with fourof his teammates in the final selection of 16.
Corbett, who wasn’t announcing his age, wasstill all smiles knowing that his riders had blown the race wide open withgood tactics, good survival skills, and phenomenally strong riding.
“These guys just salivate for days like today. They don’t get to ridein such open, windy conditions often in United States,” he said. “Theyrelish this.”
In what turned out to be almost a carbon copy of 2005’s stage four ofthe Nature Valley Grand Prix, Health Net and Navigator’s put on a clinicof team strength and smart riding to whittle down the final contendersto only a handful of the more than 160 riders. Racing on some of the sameroads from last year, the two juggernauts put their riders up front forsurvival first, and then used the strong crosswinds across the open farmfields to blow the peloton to pieces after only 10 miles.
At first, about 30 riders made the initial selection.
“We didn’t try to drill it,” Corbett said. “In fact, we said, ‘Don’tdrill it, just put it on stun.’”
But when O’Neill led the group onto a gravel dirt road three miles later,his instincts and form took over, and the group of 30 started to spliteven further.
“Nathan was going crazy in the gravel,” Henderson said. “I was pushing650 watts just trying to keep up.”
At first, not everyone did keep up, and by the time O’Neill led theother riders back onto pavement two miles later, there were only five stillon his wheel. He said that was not his intention to split the group.
“I was really riding up front to stay safe,” he said. ‘I figured, ifI was to crash, I was going down myself and not because of anyone else.”
It left others straggling just to hold on, and O’Neill said he couldhear the complaints behind him.
A chase of 10 finally formed, and before the second King of the Hillsline, the chase caught the front six to form the final selection: HealthNet’s O’Neill, Menzies, Henderson, Tim Johnson and Gord Fraser; Navigator’sGrichkine, Hilton Clarke (who took the Jelly Belly Kind of the Hills Jersey),Shawn Milne, and Bernard Van Ulden; Jelly Belly-Aramark’s Caleb Manionand Matt Rice; Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada’s Martin Gilbert (winnerof the day’s SportsPro Most Aggressive Rider Jersey) and Jackson Stewart;ABD Cycling’s Reid Mumford; TargeTraining’s Frank Pipp; and Colavita OliveOil-Sutter Home’s Jonathan Page.
“It was 16 guys that should have been there,” said Navigator’s directorsportif Ray Cipollini.
With the selection made, including contenders for general classificationfor most of the big teams except Toyota-United, the riders began workingtogether smoothly, each rotating through for a share of the workload andslowing just enough when others looked to be having trouble, such as whenStewart developed rear mechanical issues 36 miles in. When O’Neill flattedabout four miles later, Stewart was able to resolve his issues, and the16 continued to work to increase their lead.
By the time the group entered the 1.8-mile finishing circuit, they hadmore than a 4-minute lead on the rest of the peloton and were able to finishtheir first lap before the first chase group entered the circuit.
It was a waiting game from there, as others in the pack knew that HealthNet was too numerous and too powerful to attack anywhere short of the finish.
“If you tried to do some move, you knew that they would be able to cover,”Grichkine said of Health Net’s number’s.
The Russian sprinter also was left without one of his teammates, asClarke flatted in the middle of the second lap and was not able to catchback on.
With about 500 meters left, Page put in an attack that he hoped wouldcatch the sprinters off guard. “I went early hoping to get a jump on thesprinters’ teams.”
Grichkine knew better, though. “That was not a serious move.”
It left the Russian battling the Health Net train, originally led outby the yellow jersey of O’Neill and finally brought home by Menzies andHenderson.
The win moved Henderson into second place with the time bonus of 15seconds, and moved Van Ulden back into third on GC. However, neither VanUlden nor Cipollini were discouraged by the result.
“This is a race that suits my abilities,” Van Ulden said. “This is onethat I targeted for my season.”
“We have some speed, too,” Cipollini said. “We will play our cards whenthe time comes.”
Health Net’s riders, though, don’t think many will get a chance to dealin with the way the team is riding.
“[Today’s ride] was awesome,” Menzies said. “It bodes well for the nextfew days.”Results
1. Greg Henderson Health Net presented by Maxxis 2:11:46
2. Oleg Grichkine Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
3. Karl Menzies Health Net presented by Maxxis
4. Frank Pipp TARGET TRAINING
5. Martin Gilbert Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team
6. Shawn Milne Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
7. Jonathon Page Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter
8. Caleb Manion Jelly Belly Cycling Team
9. Bernard Van Ulden Navigators Insurance Cycling Team
10. Nathan O'Neill Health Net presented by Maxxis, all s.t.
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