Oakland, CA - It took Kirk O'Bee of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis five years of racing to score his first overall title of a UCI stage race, and he couldn't have done it in a better place. Racing practically into the front yard of presenting sponsor Maxxis' Taiwan headquarters, O'Bee won one stage and took three second places en route to the overall title of the Tour of Taiwan (UCI 2.2).

"It was a hard-fought win, a real team win," O'Bee said. In fact, the five-man team rode strongly enough to also take the overall team classification, with the guidance of assistant directeur sportif Gustavo Carrillo.

"The race was hard to control with only a five-man team," noted Doug Ollerenshaw of Health Net Presented by Maxxis. "But once Kirk got the yellow jersey (after stage 5), our job was pretty straightforward."

Gaining that coveted piece of clothing was no easy task, as Rob McLachlan (Drapac/Porsche) proved to be, almost literally, a one-man wrecking crew for the first few days. O'Bee finished second to the big Aussie in the opening two stages. For stage 3, it was O'Bee's teammate Garrett Peltonen's turn to earn a second place to McLachlan. But Peltonen's second-place ride in Stage 3 was also good enough to move him into second overall at :40 to McLachlan.

The top of the general classification remained the same through Stage 4, but Stage 5 would prove decisive for O'Bee and the team.

Just 10 km into the 140 km stage, O'Bee initiated the decisive break, which McLachlan missed. By the end of the first of six laps of the race's circuit, the break's lead had grown to four minutes. By the stage's midpoint, the lead had ballooned to eight minutes, and the 11-man break was riding cohesively and looked like it would stay away. Desperation set in back in the peloton as McLachlan himself, along with the Slovakian Merida squad went to the front to try to regain control of the race. But they had left it too late.

From that point on, it became a matter of who would win from the break. With teammate Jeff Louder up front with O'Bee, Health Net Presented by Maxxis was the only team with multiple riders in the break. This would prove to be the needed advantage, as Louder did the lion's share of the work keeping the break rolling and covering any attacks, while O'Bee saved his legs for the finish.

Coming into the final gradual uphill just 5 km to go from the finish line, O'Bee timed his attack to perfection, waiting for his closest rival in the break, Stephen Gallagher (Giant Asia), to finish a pull at the front, before he launched. Gallagher tried to respond to O'Bee's move, but he couldn't follow the Health Net Presented by Maxxis strongman. O'Bee powered away to win the stage by 10 seconds over Kazuyuki Manabe (Japan National Team), while putting 13 seconds into Gallagher. More importantly, he gained more than six minutes on McLachlan, whom he trailed by 1:44 coming into the stage.

The win and the gap gave O'Bee the yellow jersey, but the following day still held a major challenge for the race leader and the Health Net Presented by Maxxis team. The 110 km stage finished with an 18 km climb to a hilltop finish. O'Bee had proven that he was riding strong, but his closest rival, Gallagher sitting second at :39, also happened to be wearing the leader's jersey in the King of the Mountains competition.

"We certainly had reason to be a bit nervous," Ollerenshaw noted. "But our plan was very simple: let a small, nonthreatening breakaway go clear early on, use as little power as possible to hold it within a few minutes by the base of the final climb, then do everything possible to guide Kirk to the top without letting Gallagher gain too much time."

The team also would try to hold onto Louder's and Peltonen's respective 5th and 6th places on GC in the process. This left much of the work to Ollerenshaw and Roman Kilun.

The plan worked to perfection, as first a Japanese rider jumped away solo, then a Merida rider set off in pursuit with a second Japanese rider on his wheel. At the front of the field, "we simply upped the pace enough to discourage any further attacks," Ollerenshaw explained, "but stayed slow enough to allow the three breakaway riders to begin gaining time."

Things got a bit complicated when Peltonen began to feel the effects of the stomach bug that had ravaged the peloton, including two of McLachlan's Drapac/Porsche teammates, as well as Health Net Presented by Maxxis soigneur Kim Budde. Still, approaching the final climb, everything was still going according to plan.

But when the road turned upward, the fireworks began.

Giant Asia immediately tried to take over control of the front of the race, putting their team on the front to do a lead out up the first steep pitch in an attempt to spring Gallagher. But all they succeeded in in doing was to put Gallagher himself in difficulty. Once this became apparent, Giant Asia pulled off the front and Louder and Ollerenshaw began setting tempo for O'Bee, who, despite the chaos at the front, had remained calm and not gotten thrown into difficulty.

Despite having to make several stops along the route, Peltonen amazingly was able to claw his way back to the front group and take pulls to help his teammates.

As the climb progressed, the peloton began to break apart, and eventually was whittled down to an elite group of 15 at the front that included O'Bee and Gallagher, as well as McLachlan. The three-man break was absorbed about mid-climb, while another Japanese National Team rider was able to slip away with one of McLachlan's teammates. Those two battled for the stage win up ahead, but the battle for the overall was a few hundred meters behind them.

With O'Bee well protected and fresh for the finish, he was able to put in an attack that actually popped Gallagher. O'Bee went on to finish fifth on the stage, but more importantly, put an additional :35 into his closest rival. Louder actually moved up a spot to the 4th position, while Peltonen fought through his difficulty to limit his losses and stay in the top 10 at 9th overall.

With only a 60 km criterium to finish the race in Taipei - just a short walk from where the Tapei International Bicycle Show, one of the world's largest bicycle industry trade shows, was going on, O'Bee's title looked assured. Once again, the team would work to set up their sprinter for the stage win in front of representatives from Maxxis as well as several other of the team's sponsors. But yet again, O'Bee would finish a very close second to McLachlan for the third time.

However, both O'Bee and the team could enjoy well-earned overall classification victories. "We all look forward to taking the momentum we've built here back to the U.S. and continuing with the success that our teammates back home have already had," Ollerenshaw concluded.

Notes

The team finished with a comfortable 5:39 advantage in team GC over the Japan National Team.

O'Bee had one additional second place to McLachlan, this on in the points competition.

Official Results