San Jose, CA - After two road stages spent letting the Discovery squad of Levi Leipheimer ride tempo, the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis wanted to shake things up a bit.

"We wanted to get two or three riders in an early break," said team directeur sportif Jeff Corbett, "and if we had to initiate that break then we would."

The attacks start pretty much from the kilometer one at the end of the neutral circuits at the start of the stage in Stockton. Three kilometers in, a break of 17 riders containing Kyle Gritters, Shawn Milne and Kirk O'Bee of Health Net Presented by Maxxis rolled off the front and began to open a gap.

When the gap got to 40 seconds, Discovery and Predictor-Lotto went to the front and tried to bring it back. "But then (Chris) Horner told his guys to stop chasing," said Health Net presented by Maxxis team captain Tim Johnson, "and once Lotto stopped chasing, the gap started to grow. The mix of the break was good, but it worked out because a couple of the big teams missed out on the break. We didn't have any responsibility in the chase, so we could keep Ryder and Rory fresh for the climb."

The gap eventually went out to about five minutes before the peloton initiated a chase that saw the gap drop down to under four minutes by the time the front group hit the feed zone just prior to the climb on Calaveras Road.

As the road turned upward on Calaveras, the gap began to fall. With 50 km still to go and the break losing cohesion and time - the gap had dropped to 90 seconds - Milne put in an attack and quickly opened a gap, taking a lead of a minute on the break to the foot of the vaunted Sierra Road climb.

Once the remainder of the break hit Sierra, it broke apart quickly. Only Jens Voigt (CSC) and Jason McCartney (Discovery) survived at the front, overtaking Milne in the first couple kilometers of the climb. The peloton suffered the same fate, and soon the main bunch was splintered by the steep, five kilometer climb.

"I saw (Ivan) Basso (Discovery) come past towing Levi, with three Predictor guys on his wheel," Gritters said. "Rory and Ryder came past in this group and they were looking good."

When Basso finally launched Leipheimer, only Horner and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) could follow. The trio quickly bridged to Voigt and McCartney, who quickly became Leipheimer's able domestique for much of the remainder of the climb, as well as for the descent off of Sierra and the run into downtown San Jose.

Behind the five leaders, a fragmented bunch of about 30 was cresting Sierra 30 seconds later. Sutherland and Hesjedal both rode tempo in this group. "I was trying to stay under threshold and stay on a rhythm," Sutherland said. "If I did this I knew I'd be fine. I felt pretty darn good on the climb. And when we were coming down to the finish, Ryder did a couple strong turns for me at the end."

The main chase group, which numbered 30, had its work cut out for them bringing back the leaders. The 30-second gap over the top become a minute soon after. But the chase found some cohesion, and when Leipheimer put in a small attack, McCartney popped off, as did Gesink. With only Voigt and Horner to help - and it was Horner helping Leipheimer the most, even when McCartney was still at the front - the horsepower up front dropped, and the gap closed. By the time Voigt won the sprint ahead of Leipheimer and Horner, the gap was down to four seconds, and Gesink barely held on for 4th place, with world road champion Paolo Bettini (Quick Step) leading the chase group in for 5th place. Sutherland and Hesjedal finished 15th and 18th respectively.

However, six of the top 10 riders on general classification - including the second and third place riders - didn't make the front chase group over Sierra. As a result, Sutherland moved up to 3rd overall, with Voigt leapfrogging him with time bonuses and the gap at the finish into second at three seconds behind Leipheimer, and 12 seconds ahead of Sutherland. Hesjedal climbed four spots up to 7th overall, 0:19 behind the race leader.

The Amgen Tour of California continues Thursday with a spectacular 134-mile run down the California Coast from Seaside (Monterey) to San Luis Obispo.

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