Martinsberg, PA - It's safe to say that every rider competing in the International Tour de 'Toona is motivated. It's also safe to say that they aren't motivated the way Karl Menzies of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis is.

The big man from Tasmania won the bunch sprint to take Stage 5 of the International Tour de Toona, his second official stage win of the Tour, and extended his overall lead by another five seconds with a time bonus on the line.

"When I say I'm motivated, people don't necessarily understand what I mean," Menzies said. That part is understandable though.

A few weeks ago, Menzies returned from a three-week trip back to his home to spend time with his father, who has terminal cancer. "He told me, 'I don't want you sitting here watching me die,'" Menzies recalled. "'I want you back racing and winning.'"

That's motivation.

He returned to his home in Boulder and did a solid, two-week block of training with teammate and wing-man Rory Sutherland, and then returned to racing last week at one of his favorite events, International Superweek, to get the feeling back in his legs. He won his first race back, and he's carried his good form and that intangible of motivation to earn three stage wins (though one was nullified) and the race lead at 'Toona.

"I'm going to every race wanting to win," he said. "That's not me being selfish or cocky. I know my dad is watching the results every day.

"I'm happy with the way things are going at the moment," he said. "I'm in a positive mood, and that helps me and the whole team."

The results speak for themselves: three wins in four stages for Health Net Presented by Maxxis, including the opening team time trial last Monday. "All the guys have worked hard every day this week," he added.

According to Plan

Today's stage was no exception. As with yesterday's Stage 4, the team's plan for the 77-mile Martinsburg Circuit Race was to let a relatively non-threatening break go up the road, and then ride tempo to protect Menzies' overall lead.

"There was a lot of attacking early, but it took until we were through two laps of the circuit for a break to get up the road," said Health Net Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Jeff Corbett.

Finally, a group of 11 riders succeeded in separating themselves from the peloton. However, with break containing Caleb Manion, one of five Toyota-United riders sitting just 0:19 behind Menzies in the overall classification coming into the day, Health Net Presented by Maxxis was very attentive at the front of the peloton.

The gap never got above 1:15. Part of the reason for that was the presence of Frank Pipp of Health Net Presented by Maxxis in the break as well. "Frank attacked the break a couple times to try to disrupt the rhythm of the group and keep it from getting truly organized," Corbett noted.

Over the ensuing miles, Health Net Presented by Maxxis rode a steady tempo and slowly brought back the break. When the gap had dropped to just over 0:30, Colavita-Sutter Home and KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada took up the chase, looking to bring the break all the way back and set up a bunch kick for their sprinters.

As the gap dropped, Pipp attacked once more, this time with Ben Brooks (Navigators) coming along. The duo stayed off the front until there were just three miles left in the stage.

"When Manion was finally back in the peloton, we were content to let Frank and Ben go, but Colavita and Kodak wanted the bunch sprint so they brought them back," Corbett said.

In the rush to the line, Health Net Presented by Maxxis set up the lead-out, with Rory Sutherland taking Menzies to the final corner. "With the way the final kilometer is set up, if you're out of position, you're out of it," Menzies explained. "The finish has tight corners, and you have to be near the front."

Menzies found Sutherland's wheel inside 1 km to go, and the tall Aussie executed what Menzies called a textbook lead-out. "He took me from the second-to-last corner to the final corner," Menzies said. "(Charles) Dionne (Colavita-Sutter Home) had one guy with him as well and we played off them a bit. Once Rory launched, it was all over. It was perfect."

Sutherland swung off with 200 meters to go and Menzies found the inside line and took a clear sprint victory over Kevin Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Dionne.

Despite earning the extra five-second time bonus, Menzies is still just 0:24 ahead of a quintet of Toyota-United riders, and 0:31 ahead of a trio of Navigators. However, the team also has the very strong card of Sutherland to play on the difficult and likely race-deciding Stage 6 Saturday. Sutherland remained in 2nd place overall, 0:13 behind Menzies.

Saturday's Altoona/Blair County Road Race, a 159 km slog over the hills of central Pennsylvania, covers three significant climbs, including the infamous Blue Knob, where, following the descent, Menzies and a chasing peloton were inadvertantly sent astray from the course, costing Menzies the race lead and possibly the race's overall title.

Menzies knows that last climb could be race-defining. "When you're going uphill and you're getting dropped, you call on everything you can to get back and over the climb. I definitely have massive motivation, for me and the team."

But Menzies also knows that if he gets separated from the leaders on the climb, "Rory can climb with anyone who would make the front group," he said. "It doesn't matter to the team whether I win or Rory wins. The team is doing all this work for us this week. We have no choice but to win or go down swinging. We'll do the best we can to win for the boys."

Notes

Today would have been Menzies' third stage win of the tour, and fourth for the team, as he also won the bunch sprint in Stage 3. However, the results were later nullified after it was determined that anomalies in the course set up at the finish had forced a number of riders, including Menzies, to "cut" the course and gain a slight advantage.

"It was a fair decision (to nullify the results)," Menzies said. "I let it go that night. There's was no use dwelling on it. Mostly, I felt bad for the team. They worked really hard to get me to the front. We were a bit isolated, and I had to cover some late moves on my own as well. Coming in, I took the final turn the same way I did last year, but there wasn't an island there then."

Thursday's Stage 4 was a fairly straightforward day that went according to plan for Health Net Presented by Maxxis. The team was content to let a group of seven escape off the front and open a gap of around 2:30 on the peloton. Health Net Presented by Maxxis rode tempo most of the way, getting help from Navigators and Toyota-United in the final 20 km, as they were looking to protect their positions in the top 10 overall. Michael Friedman (Slipstream) won the stage out of the break, with the peloton arriving 1:37 later.