Hood River, OR - Defending a race leader's jersey from start to finish is no easy task. The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis did it for the five-day Tour of the Gila in early May, helping Nathan O'Neill earn his first stage race overall win of the season. After winning the opening prologue of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Tuesday, the team chose to not defend his jersey so closely.

Even so, Health Net Presented by Maxxis still wanted to keep it close. They controlled the second stage throughout, bringing back a three-man break to within two minutes with 15 miles remaining before relinquishing some of the chasing duties to other teams to set up a bunch sprint at the end.

With a time bonus of 15 seconds on the line, it was an opportunity for several of O'Neill's closest rivals to gain a little time. Two of them took advantage, with Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) winning the stage and leapfrogging O'Neill into the race lead. Phil Zajicek (Navigators) came second, and pulled within a second of O'Neill, who now sits second overall, seven seconds behind Jacques-Maynes. Jeff Louder of Health Net Presented by Maxxis took third on the stage and the five-second bonus that went with it to jump up to eighth overall.

Handing the leader's jersey over to Priority Health takes the pressure off of Health Net Presented by Maxxis for at least two days. Instead, Jacques-Maynes' team will have to defend on the tough, 87-mile Cooper Spur Circuit Race Thursday, while Friday is the 18-mile individual time trial. Many people expect O'Neill, who has only lost one race against the clock this year - the Tour de Georgia time trial where he finished third to Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) and David Zabriskie (CSC) - to retake the leader's jersey after the time trial. He beat Jacques-Maynes by eight seconds in the three-mile prologue.

If he succeeds in retaking the race lead, the team will have only to defend over the difficult Wy'East Road Race, with nearly 10,000 feet of climbing over its 90 miles, and the final-stage criterium.

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