Stillwater, MN - Frank Pipp of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis won the sixth stage of the 2007 Nature Valley Grand Prix, taking the team's fifth consecutive stage win, and becoming the fourth team member to win a stage in the race.

Rory Sutherland of Health Net Presented by Maxxis took third in the finale' to secure 2nd overall in the race. However, despite constant attacking from Health Net Presented by Maxxis, race leader Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United) held on for sixth on the stage, good enough to hold onto the race lead.

One engine short

With five riders within a minute of Stevic in the overall after stage 5, Health Net Presented by Maxxis was in a strong position to attack hard and often in an attempt to break the Toyota squad and isolate Stevic.

But the team lost one of its biggest weapons when Nathan O'Neill, sitting 2nd overall coming at the end of Stage 5, suffered food poisoning from dinner Saturday night.

"We kept hoping he would come around, but he never did," said Health Net Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. "If it had been an evening crit, then maybe there would've been time."

Instead, O'Neill was unable to start and one of the team's biggest weapons was removed from the arsenal. "We really couldn't amount the offensive we wanted to without him," Corbett said. "The idea was to have all of our guys play off one another and attack Toyota. When you lose a weapon like him, it hurts."

Still, the team had four riders within striking distance, and the attacks came early and often, not just from Health Net Presented by Maxxis, but also all the GC threats.

"Just about everyone in the top 10 had a go," Corbett said.

And the Toyota-United riders did their jobs and started to drop. In the closing laps, only Caleb Manion remained by Stevic's side. "Manion did a great job," Corbett said. "He really saved them."

By the final few laps, between the attacks and the selectiveness of the course, only a group of 12 to 15 riders containing the main GC contenders remained at the front of the race.

"The course is insanely hard," Corbett said. "Chilkoot Hill is like going up Taylor Street from the old San Francisco Grand Prix, then making a left, going 100 meters, taking a right and going another 500 meters of 4% grade. Then you make another turn, bomb down the back side, giving you about 45 or 50 seconds to recover, then you do it again." At least 15 times, or more depending on the speed in the 60-minute timed criterium.

"The pace was pretty moderate for the first 15 minutes," Corbett continued. "It's not the type of course you can attack on full gas, and be able to recover and hit it again later. You have to attack at 80% if you want anything left later."

Pipp measured his efforts well, and slipped away on the final lap, with Cesar Grajales (Jittery Joe's) and Darren Lill (Navigators) in tow. "Frank just muscled his way up the climb the last time to take the win," Corbett said.

Sutherland was able to come up to take third on the stage, though it appeared from photography that Lill may have cut off Sutherland along the right barriers in the sprint.

Regardless, Stevic was able to tack on to the end of the front group of six riders to finish in the same time as Pipp, Sutherland, as well as Kirk O'Bee, who finished the stage 5th.

Notes

With four riders in the top 10, Health Net Presented by Maxxis easily took the team overall title by 3:01 over Colavita-Sutter Home.

The final tally for Health Net Presented by Maxxis at the Nature Valley Grand Prix: five stage wins, one 2nd place and one 3rd place in six stages.