Cannon Falls, MN - Jeff Corbett, directeur sportif of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had a very good birthday Thursday. Greg Henderson continued his torrid return by taking the sprint win in Stage 2 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix and moving up to second overall with time bonuses, while his lead-out man, Karl Menzies, kept going to finish third just behind Oleg Grichkine (Navigators). On top of that, Nathan O'Neill retained his yellow leader's jersey, while doing a good bit of damage to the rest of the peloton in the process.

"That was gold," Menzies said after the stage.

It took an hard - and valuable - effort to mine that gold.

Blowing apart in the wind

Ten miles into the 58.8-mile Cannon Falls Road Race, the peloton of 160 riders hit their first section of open farm road, with its requisite crosswinds. Health Net Presented by Maxxis and Navigators went to the front and immediately set a hard tempo.

"We didn't try to drill it," Corbett said. It didn't matter. Within minutes there was carnage in the peloton, and only 30 riders survived on the front. When that group hit a three-mile section of gravel, O'Neill completed the destruction.

"Nathan was going crazy in the gravel," Henderson said. "I was pushing 650 watts just trying to keep up."

All O'Neill wanted to do was to survive the gravel. "If I was going to crash, I was going down by myself, not because of anyone else," he said. When he hit the front, the Aussie TT national champion put it into time trial mode. By the time he cleared the gravel and hit solid pavement again, only five riders were still on his wheel.

A chase group of 10 formed behind, and before the second King of the Hills line, they caught the front six to form the final selection, which also included Henderson and Menzies, as well as teammates Gord Fraser and Tim Johnson. Navigators was also well represented with Grichkine, second place overall Bernard Van Ulden, Hilton Clarke and Shawn Milne. Menzies' Tasmanian neighbors on the Jelly Belly team, Caleb Manion and Matty Rice also made the selection, along with two riders from Kodakgallery/Sierra Nevada, Martin Gilbert and Jackson Stewart. Jonathan Page (Colavita-Sutter Home), Frank Pipp (TargetTraining) and Reid Mumford (ABD Cycling) rounded out the group.

The only big team to miss out on the break was Toyota-United.

For the last 25 miles of the stage, the group put on a clinic in how to ensure a break stays away, working smoothly to push their lead on the shattered peloton out beyond four minutes by the time they entered the 1.8 mile finishing circuit. In fact, they were able to complete their first lap before the peloton even entered the circuit.

In the closing circuits, Health Net Presented by Maxxis put on a clinic in how to control the front and set up your hot sprinter for the win, preventing any attacks from forming. In the middle of the second lap, Navigators' Clarke flatted, leaving Grichkine with one less teammate.

With 500 meters to go, Page tried a desperate sneak attack, trying to catch the sprinters' teams off-guard, but it went nowhere. Health Net Presented by Maxxis had the train on the front, with the yellow jersey of O'Neill leading things off, while Henderson sat on the back, safely behind the big frame of Menzies until the final 150 meters.

From there, Henderson did what he's been doing all month - sealing the deal.

Notes

Time bonuses moved Henderson up into second overall ahead of Van Ulden. The front group finished about 5:20 ahead of the peloton.

Friday's stage - a 60-minute criterium in downtown Minneapolis - will provide another opportunity for Health Net Presented by Maxxis to get the train rolling for Henderson. Another win, and he might get enough bonus time to take the yellow tunic from his teammate, O'Neill.

Official Results