Overall 2008 Results: Men

Rory Sutherland wins a Health Net dominated 2008 NVGP

Due to negative weather events, the first stage St. Paul Criterium was neutralized with 25 laps left to go in the 45-lap race after a lead motorbike crashed on a rain-soaked course. At the time national criterium champion Kirk O’Bee, had a 20-second lead on the peloton, and the pace he and Bissell’s Aaron Olson had set had shattered the race into small echelons just trying to hang on.

With no points, time, or jerseys awarded in the first stage, the riders went into Thursday’s 60-mile Cannon Falls Road Race even on the general classification.
In a stage race where “epic” is an apropos word used to describe weather conditions, Thursday’s second stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix – the Cannon Falls Road Race – provided a bit of a surprise.

It was sunny, in the 70s, with little crosswinds.

Without those winds, Healthnet-Maxxis did what any team with a national criterium champion would do. They sat in on the 60-mile jaunt through the rolling farm country of east-central Minnesota until the finishing circuits, led four of five finishing laps through the 2-mile circuit, and delivered O’Bee to the win he was denied in the first stage of Nature Valley.

With the win on Thursday, Tamayo said they planned on keeping control of the race and the leader’s jersey in Friday’s third and fourth stages, the 6-mile Saint Paul Riverfront Time Trial in the morning and the Downtown Minneapolis Classic criterium in the evening.
The top of the classification looked a little different after the third stage St. Paul Riverfront Time Trial however as Bissell’s time trial specialist and former Nature Valley champion Ben Jacques-Maynes took the win by 8 seconds over Healthnet-Maxxis’ Rory Sutherland and with the stage win, Jacques-Mayne also assumed the overall lead by 7 seconds over Healthnet’s John Murphy, who finished third in the time trial following his third-place finish in Thursday’s second stage Cannon Falls Road Race.
 
Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes knew what he and his team had to do to protect his leader’s jersey in the fourth stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, the Minneapolis Downtown Classic criterium. Healthnet-Maxxis knew what they wanted to do to put pressure on the jersey and win the race.  And Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic knew what he needed to do to stay in contention.

By the end of the 40-lap race, all three had achieved their goal, setting up an individual battle reminiscent of the 2007 Nature Valley Grand Prix.
For the second year in a row Healthnet’s Kirk O’Bee took the stage win in Minneapolis. He pipped Stevic at the line by a tire, with Successful Living’s Ricardo Escuela coming in third.

Jacques-Maynes said Healthnet’s win was fine, as his team kept him safe and in the leader’s yellow jersey,
controlling the front, setting a hard pace, and protecting him from any attacks.

Bissel’s Ben Jacques-Maynes came into the fifth stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix with only a 7-second lead and by the end of the day he would lose his lead to Rory Sutherland who rode away from his main rivals up the 1-mile, 14-percent-grade climb in the finishing circuit with two laps to go to take his second straight win in the 91.5-mile Mankato Road Race and with it the leader’s jersey.

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 to Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast’s David Veilleux, who came into the day wearing the Boost Best Young Rider jersey and sat seventh overall.

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.

Stage GC Young Amateur Team Sprints Climbing