Stillwater Criterium and Overall, Men

By James Lockwood
Photo by: Matt Moses

Healthnet–Maxxis came into the last stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix with three objectives: win the leader’s jersey, win the stage and win the team’s classification.

“We got two out of three,” said Tim Johnson, the elder statesman on the team. “That’s not too bad.”

Johnson and his team were all smiles after teammate Rory Sutherland not only defended his lead coming into stage six – the Stillwater Criterium – but also came in second, losing the sprint up the course’s famed Chilkoot Hill by a bike length.

“I would have liked to have helped John [Murphy] win the stage,” Sutherland said unselfishly after the race. “But if I don’t go, there would have been time gaps.”

With Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic and Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes in the lead group with Sutherland and Murphy, those gaps were something Sutherland couldn’t afford to let develop. Stevic entered the day in third place overall, 15 seconds behind Sutherland, while Jacques-Maynes was only another nine seconds down in fourth place.

Not winning the stage didn’t seem to bother Murphy, who finished second overall behind his teammate. “We didn’t want to risk losing any time,” Murphy said. “The overall lead was more important than the stage win.”

Instead of Murphy winning the stage, those honors went to the surprise of the tour, Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast’s David Veilleux, who came into the day wearing the Boost Best Young Rider jersey and sat seventh overall.

“I didn’t know,” the young Quebecois said of his expectations for the race. “Because I am young, I don’t know what I can really do.” He proved himself on this course, though.

“The kid deserved it,” Sutherland said. “He’s been working hard all week.”

“He was impressive,” said Stevic, who finished fourth on the stage and lost his title as Nature Valley champion to Sutherland this year.

More impressive were Sutherland and Healthnet, who controlled the race from the start, keeping all of its riders save sprinter Kirk O’Bee at the front of the race. From that vantage point, they kept the pace just hard enough to control any attacks from the general classification threats while letting those who didn’t pose a threat dangle at the front.

Successful Living.com’s Bradley White took advantage of Healthnet’s plan to stay out front much of the first half of the 18-lap race. “I knew they were going to let something go,” said the winner of the last Freewheel Bike Most Aggressive Jersey. “I thought I would give it a try.”

What surprised him, though, was the fact that Bissell didn’t send someone to join him until late into the race. “That’s the way they win races is from the break,” White said. “Jacques-Maynes is really clutch at these kind of races.”

That move didn’t come until four laps to go in the 18-lap race, with Jacques-Maynes’ teammate Aaron Olson and Garrett Peltonen up the road along with White, Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion, Colavita-Sutter Home’s Luis Amaran and Davide Frattini, and Kelly Benefit Strategies’ Andrew Bajadali.

Healthnet wasn’t fazed, and with two laps to go, all the leaders were together. “They made sure nothing got out of control,” Murphy said. “We have the right guys who are willing to sell out to each other,” Johnson said, describing the teamwork it took to keep Sutherland in the leader’s jersey.

Sutherland returned the compliment. “We were conserving a little
bit,” he said describing how they worked until the end. “These guys rode every single meter all week.”

As the group crested Chilkoot Hill with one lap to go, Veilleux saw his opportunity to move up after using Healthnet’s train all race. It was not the team’s original plan, but it was a move that proved to work.

“My job was to just stay in there the whole race,” he said. “We were actually trying to set Bajadali up for the win.”

Sitting in fifth wheel into the last lap, he was able to carry the momentum on the steep down hill through the seventh and eighth corners to pass the leaders and take the win.

“That’s the key to this course,” he said. “You need the momentum to get up the climb. I just hit it. It was perfect for us.”

“It was a good move,” Stevic said. He also tipped his hat to Sutherland, who proved a worthy winner of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.
“Losing the race overall to Sutherland and Healthnet, it doesn’t make you feel bad,” he said.

In addition to winning the leader’s jersey and team competition, Healthnet also took the Wheaties Sprint Jersey with O’Bee, winner of the Cannon Falls Road Race and the Minneapolis Downtown Classic. Nick Reistad of Jelly Belly took the Sports Beans King of the Mountains Jersey, and Keil Reijnen of Team Waste Management captured the Nature Valley Top Amateur Jersey.