Chiayi, Taiwan - Two words provide the equivalent of Murphy's Law in professional cycling: That's racing. The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis for the Tour of Taiwan was reminded of this in rather strange fashion during the 130 km third stage of the race Tuesday.

The team car driven by assistant directeur sportif Mike Tamayo suffered a flat during the stage. In the resulting confusion, Tamayo was unable to keep the riders informed of what was going on during the race. As a result, race leader Shawn Milne of Health Net Presented by Maxxis missed the decisive break, finishing in the main bunch 2:06 behind stage winner Christian Knorr (Differdange), dropping Milne to 7th overall, 1:40 behind new race leader Dean Windsor (Drapac Porsche).

However, for the third day in a row, Frank Pipp of Health Net Presented by Maxxis found himself in the winning break. His fourth place on the stage enable him to move up to 3rd overall, just nine seconds behind Windsor. Kyle Gritters (13th) and Roman Kilun (17th) of Health Net Presented by Maxxis also helped their overall positions with top 20 finishes in the stage, about 50 seconds behind the stage winner.

The Tour of Taiwan continues Wednesday with a 120 km stage from Chang Hua to Baguashan.

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