Elk Grove, IL - In bike racing, you have to be strong to win races. It also helps to be a bit lucky.

"We lucked out a bit this week," said Nathan O'Neill of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis after wrapping up an improbable overall win at the Tour of Elk Grove Sunday afternoon. "It's amazing to think that we could win a prologue and gamble that all the time bonuses the next two stages wouldn't go to certain riders."

Those riders included Michael Friedman (Slipstream-Chipotle), who finished second to O'Neill in the opening prologue Saturday morning, and Fast Freddie Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto), who put himself in close contention after winning the sprint for the stage two victory.

"The second stage Saturday evening, we tired to be aggressive, but it was too fast," O'Neill explained. "We were just hurting ourselves. So today, we gambled and just tried to follow wheels, and see what happened. Frankly, with all the time bonuses, we expected to lose the lead today."

In fact, if either Friedman or Rodriguez had finished in the top three on the final stage, O'Neill would've lost the lead to one of them. Instead, they finished 4th and 5th respectively in the stage, won by Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United).

"Freddie probably woke up this morning thinking 'today is my day,'" O'Neill said. "I woke up today thinking it was his day, too. But it didn't work out that way. That's bike racing."

O'Neill added that the format of the race, with all the time bonuses available, made for an exciting finish. "It was great for the promoter," he said. "The race came right down to the wire."

Race Notes

With a prize purse totaling $152,000, the Tour of Elk Grove continued a green August for the team. After Frank Pipp of Health Net Presented by Maxxis took home the $25,000 winner's check at the Presbyterian Healthcare Invitational Criterium in Charlotte last weekend (with Karl Menzies picking up a decent chunk of change for his 5th place), the team took home about $35,000 more this weekend, led by O'Neill who earned $26,000 for the overall win, as well as another $5,000 for taking the opening stage prologue.

Next weekend, instead of racing for green, the team will be looking to snag some red, white and blue, with the criterium national champion's jersey on the line at the USPro Criterium Championship, just down the road at Downer's Grove, near Chicago.

Weekend Race Notes

Jeff Louder of Health Net Presented by Maxxis continues to beat up on the locals around his home in Salt Lake City, UT. Last weekend, Louder took out the Huntsville 100 over up-and-comer Mark Santurbane (Team Bob's-Bicycles.com). On Saturday, he won the Wolf Creek Pass Road Race - which doubled as the Utah State Road Race Championship - over friend and frequent training partner Burke Swindlehurst (Toyota-United). Finishing third: some guy named Dave in full CSC kit. That would be Zabriskie, who is back home prepping for the national championships in three weeks.