Oakland, CA - John Murphy has been with the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis for only a matter of weeks, but he's already getting a head start on the 2007 season with the team.

Murphy, who comes to Health Net Presented by Maxxis for the U23 U.S. National Team, will be part of the seven-man team starting the Jayco Herald Sun Tour this Sunday, October 8, in Victoria, Australia.

"John is going to be a big part of our lead-out train for the 2007 season," said team directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. "This will be a good chance for him to start working with guys like Karl Menzies and Kyle Gritters."

"When Jeff Corbett gave me the chance to come down to Australia for the Herald Sun Tour, I jumped on it," Murphy said. "It will be a great opportunity for me to get to know my teammates and to get some hard racing before I end my 2006 season.

"My main goal for the Herald Sun Tour is to help the team as much as possible, hopefully with a stage win or two," Murphy continued. "This is such a great team and I am getting more and more excited about next season as it approaches."

Murphy only recently returned from Belgium, where he was racing with the U23 National Team. Some of his final races there included a win at Vinkt-Deinze in Belgium, as well as a hard-fought 5th place in the Zillebeke, a UCI 1.12 race in West Flanders.

The sprinter-heavy Health Net Presented by Maxxis squad will have its work cut out for it at the SunTour, as they will face off against a composite team lead by Tour de France green jersey and multiple stage winner Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), who will have the support of his top lead-out man, Henk Vogels (Davitamon-Lotto), for one last race, as well as last year's overall Herald SunTour winner, Simon Gerrans (AG2R).

"I would love to take on Robbie when we are both 100% fit," said Health Net Presented by Maxxis sprinter Greg Henderson. "Who wouldn't? He's regarded as the fastest guy right now. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be 100% for the Sun Tour. But if I see my opportunity, I'll definitely give it a red hot one. We have some other fast guys like Karl on our team, and we will decide early on who has the legs for the fast finishes and who has legs for the overall."