Silver City, NM - Nathan O'Neill and the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis faced the 105-mile Gila Monster stage with five rated climbs, as well as a peloton that wanted to crack them and steal back the two-minute lead he held over Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) in the overall classification.
No problem.
The team controlled the race throughout, letting an early, non-threatening break go up the road, then riding tempo while the peloton slowly broke apart around and behind them.
By the second to last climb, the category 2 Meadow Creek, the depleted break had been caught, with the peloton equally depleted, mostly as a result of the work of team co-leader turned super domestique Ryder Hesjedal.
"He rode tempo for most of the final 35 kilometers of the stage," said assistant team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. The whole time, O'Neill was glued to his wheel.
Going into the finishing climb up to Pinos Altos, only a couple handfuls of rivals were there with the Health Net Presented by Maxxis duo, including the next three riders on GC, Baldwin, Scott Moninger (BMC) and Hernan Munoz (P&S-Halcones).
Hesjedal dropped off O'Neill with 3 km to go to the finish, and the tough Aussie took care of business from there, leading most of the remaining bunch up to climb until about 500 meters remaining, knowing his lead was secure.
Moninger ended up with the gap at the end, taking the stage by three seconds over Colavita-Sutter Home climber Anthony Colby, Baldwin, Tom Petersen (Slipstream/Chipotle) and Munoz. O'Neill rolled across the line in 6th, another 12 seconds later, his win safely in hand.
"This was definitely a team win," O'Neill said. "The guys were amazing all week," O'Neill said. "Ryder was the star today. He rode on the front for something like 35 km at the end. He destroyed just about everyone."
O'Neill also got ample help from teammates Matt Crane, Roman Kilun, Jeff Louder and Doug Ollerenshaw in New Mexico. "I hate to think where I would've been without those guys this week," O'Neill added.
Official Results
