Mogollon Pass, NM - Nathan O'Neill of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis may be experiencing some of the best form he's ever had.
After smoking the field in the opening time trial of the Tour of the Gila on Wednesday, he followed up that ride with a close second-place finish in mountain-top Stage 2 finish up to Mogollon Pass today.
"I haven't climbed like this in years," O'Neill said. "When I was in Europe, I was pretty handy on the climbs, but racing here is a bit different and you train differently."
The 95-mile second stage finished with a 5.5 mile climb covering nearly 2,000 feet up to the pass. And when it came down to the end, only Colombian climbing specialist Hernan Munoz (P&S Halcones) could best O'Neill, taking the stage win by a few seconds over the Aussie.
Keeping Control
"Attacks started from the gun," said assistant team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. In short order, a move of six riders, including Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) and Irish national champion David McCann (Colavita-Sutter Home), as well as Mike Jones (Jelly Belly), got off the front, extending its lead to over five minutes. With Health Net Presented by Maxxis patrolling the front of the peloton, the gap slowly started coming down.
"Doug (Ollerenshaw), Matt (Crane) and Roman (Kilun) did an excellent job with the pace-making on the front today," Tamayo said.
O'Neill was equally impressed with his teammates' work. "Those guys were phenomenal," he said. "They didn't miss a beat."
By the base of the final climb, with a little help from Priority Health, the Health Net Presented by Maxxis trio had the gap down to two minutes. By then, the break was down to two riders - Stevic and McCann - with the other four having already cracked and dropped back.
Once the road turned upward, things began to get interesting.
After the peloton made the right-hand turn onto the first gradual section of the climb, Jelly Belly put five riders on the front trying to spring their main GC threat, Andrew Bajadali. O'Neill, Jeff Louder and Ryder Hesjedal of Health Net Presented by Maxxis followed wheels and when the thinning group hit the first plateau, Jelly Belly ceded control of the front to Toyota-United.
The dwindling group took a left-hand turn, with Stevic - who had been caught on the first steep pitch - Stefano Barberi and Chris Baldwin setting pace for T-U.
"They put it hard in the left-hand gutter trying to take advantage of the crosswind," O'Neill explained. "I just stuck to Baldwin's wheel."
After another left, with less than three miles to go, it was the young Brazilian Barberi setting the pace, with O'Neill glued to his wheel.
By this time, an elite group had formed at the front, including second overall Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) and Baldwin, who came into the stage third overall.
When Barberi swung off the front, O'Neill took over.
"I just took the initiative and started riding a hard tempo," O'Neill said. "Pretty soon, I looked around and the group was down to five. Then it was down to three."
Only Baldwin and Munoz, who won the Tour de Langkawi while riding for Colombia-Selle Italia a few years ago, kept pace. Nearing the top, it was Munoz putting in the attack. With the Colombian coming into the stage more than three minutes down, O'Neill was content to let him open a gap and instead concentrate on Baldwin, who sat 1:29 back coming in.
"I knew I had three minutes on Munoz, so I let him go a bit," O'Neill said.
When Baldwin didn't answer Munoz' attack, O'Neill finally made a move of his own, nearly bridging to Munoz in the final kilometer, but more importantly, putting additional time into Baldwin, and extending his overall lead to nearly two minutes on the Toyota rider.
"I'm feeling pretty good about where we are right now," O'Neill added. "We have six really strong guys here, and we rode like a machine today. If we lose this race, it won't be because of the team. It will be from bad luck."
The Tour of the Gila continues Friday with the 80-mile Inner Look Road Race.
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