Oakland, CA - 2007 will not be a re-building year for the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis. "It will be more like a re-birth," states Team Directeur Sportif Jeff Corbett, noting that the re-shaped squad will more resemble the first two NRC championship teams of 2004 and 2005. "We're going to have a lot of big, powerful guys on the squad. You're going to see a lot less 52 cm Cannondales underneath our guys this year."
With the departure of long-time veterans Gord Fraser, Mike Sayers and Scott Moninger, the team will see a youth movement in 2007. "Our oldest guy will be Nathan O'Neill," Corbett said, "and he'll only be 32."
But there will be no sacrifice in experience.
The Team has signed two big, young but experienced engines from the Pro Tour ranks: Canadian Ryder Hesjedal from Phonak and Australian Rory Sutherland, previously of Rabobank.
"Both guys have started and finished grand tours, and they have a lot of experience racing at the top level in Europe," Corbett said.
Hesjedal, who turned 26 in September, finished 4th overall at the Volta a Cataluna and 17th overall at the Dauphine Libere, both Pro Tour races. He rode the Vuelta e Espana this year, and was part of Discovery Channel's 2005 Giro d'Italia-winning team. He is also a seven-time world mountain biking championships medalist. "He's a good time trialist and a strong climber," Corbett said. "He and Nathan will provide a good two-pronged GC attack."
Sutherland rode his way up through the ranks at Rabobank, spending two years on their DIII development squad, where he was a teammate of Hesjedal in 2003, before moving up to the big squad in 2005. He also rode the Giro in 2005, and had his best result at the Tour of Denmark, where he finished 3rd overall and won the Best Young Rider jersey. "He can do a bit of everything," Corbett noted. "He TTs well, and is good at hard, selective one-day and stage races."
Also coming over from Europe is 2005 British National Road Race Champion Russell Downing from the DFL-Cyclingnews squad. "He's another tough guy who has paid his dues racing in Europe," Corbett said. This year, he finished in the top 10 in nearly every stage of the Tour of Britain, including one 3rd place, while finishing 9th overall and second in the points competition. He also won a stage of Tryptique Ardennes.
Additionally, Health Net Presented by Maxxis signed an up-and-coming rider from Navigators Insurance, Shawn Milne, who placed 10th this year in the NRC individual standings. "He's a strong guy with a very good finishing sprint," Corbett said. In 2005, he was knocking on the door with good results at Nature Valley Grand Prix. In 2006, he broke through with big wins at the Bank of America Charlotte Criterium and the Univest Grand Prix. He also won two stages and the overall of the notoriously difficult Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. Milne, who turns 25 in November, also rode for the U.S. U23 national team and has been a U23 world championship team member.
The Team is also adding another veteran strong-man in Frank Pipp, who comes over from Target Training. Pipp showed his strength with a stage win and 7th overall finish at the International Tour de 'Toona, while finishing the year 20th in the NRC individual rankings. "He's similar to Kirk O'Bee in that he's good in the breaks, can sprint well and is a solid lead-out guy," Corbett said. "He can be up there at a race like the USPRO Criterium Championship and still do well on GC at races like Nature Valley and 'Toona." Despite 2006 being only his second year as a pro, Pipp brought a lot of leadership to his squad. He was a teammate of Karl Menzies in 2005, riding for Advantage Benefits/Endeavor, the year that also saw him win the sprints competition at International Superweek.
Two members of the U.S. U23 squad round out the new signings for 2007. Corbett considers them both as more developmental riders, yet, despite their young ages, John Murphy and Matt Crane have been getting plenty of experience racing at a high level in Europe. Murphy, who Corbett says is built much like Menzies, is another big kid with a big diesel. "He's solid, with a good sprint finish as well." Murphy has finished in the top 20 of the past two Paris-Roubaix Espoirs races. He has already gotten a taste of racing with Health Net Presented by Maxxis, joining the squad for the Jayco Herald SunTour this month, where he helped Menzies to a 7th overall finish.
Crane is more of an all-arounder who is a good time trialist. "Matt is looking forward to working with Nathan on his time trialing," Corbett noted. He's had good results in the past at Fitchburg and 'Toona.
Transformation Complete
With the departure of Sayers and Fraser, no riders remain from the Team's inaugural 2003 season. And with Greg Henderson leaving for T-Mobile, the 2007 Team will not have a rider from the 2004 NRC championship Team. Only Doug Ollerenshaw returns from the 2005 championship Team.
For 2007, the Team will still be led by team captain and super-domestique Tim Johnson. Johnson's palmares doesn't reflect the contribution he made toward the team winning its 3rd consecutive NRC crown in 2006. His work was instrumental in delivering any number of big wins, including Henderson's victory in Philadelphia. Instead, Johnson is once again posting strong results in cyclocross, with four wins already this fall in a discipline in which he's been a three-time national champion.
Karl Menzies returns with a vengeance after narrowly missing out on the 2006 NRC individual crown, finishing 17 points behind Floyd Landis (Phonak). Kirk O'Bee comes back looking to produce more strong results both domestically and in Europe, while Kyle Gritters will continue to develop as a sprinter and classics rider.
The Team's leading stage-race threat, Nathan O'Neill, returns after finishing 4th in the NRC standings, earning 5th overall at the Amgen Tour of California and 7th overall at the Tour de Georgia.
In addition to Ollerenshaw, the Team returns two more strong stage racers in Jeff Louder and Roman Kilun. Louder finished second overall at the Cascade Classic, though he was tied on time for first, and finished third overall in the Tour of Utah to teammate Moninger. Kilun, another of the team's younger riders, gained valuable experience in 2006, and was instrumental in O'Neill's overall title at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in June.
The complete 2007 Health Net Presented by Maxxis roster:
New for 2007
Matt Crane, USA, U.S. U23 National Team
Russell Downing, GBr, DFL-Cyclingnews.com
Ryder Hesjedal, CAN, Phonak
Shawn Milne, USA, Navigators Insurance
John Murphy, USA, U.S. U23 National Team
Frank Pipp, USA, Target Training
Rory Sutherland, AUS, Rabobank
Returning for 2007
Kyle Gritters, USA
Tim Johnson, USA
Roman Kilun, USA
Jeff Louder, USA
Karl Menzies, TAS
Kirk O'Bee, USA
Doug Ollerenshaw, USA
Nathan O'Neill, AUS
