Atlanta, GA - The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis finished an aggressive week at the Tour de Georgia Presented by AT&T with Rory Sutherland earning the honors as Most Aggressive Rider for the week.

"The team came together really well this week and rode aggressively," said team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. "It's good to have the team racing well again."

Sutherland's riding was emblematic of the entire team during the seven-stage race. The team's riders figured in almost every major break in the six road stages, beginning with Stage one with Frank Pipp getting into a six-rider break. Pipp snagged the race's first King of the Mountains jersey on Stage 2 with a strong lead-out from Sutherland for that stage's only KOM sprint.

In Stage 3, it was Pipp again off the front helping to establish the break. He would've earned the day's Most Aggressive Rider honors except Sutherland's late solo bid for the stage win brought him the jersey.

In Stage 5, it was Sutherland's road roommate, Tim Johnson, off the front for nearly 100 miles of the longest stage of the race, putting in a solo attack out of the break on the last KOM looking for the stage win. His presence in the break enabled Sutherland to stay rested in the front group, and land on the podium with a second place on the stage. He was joined there by Johnson, who earned well-deserved Most Aggressive Rider honors.

Sutherland continued his strong week by coming a surprising 4th in Stage 6 up to Brasstown Bald. "I think Rory turned a few heads with his performance Saturday," said team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo.

In Sunday's finale, both Matt Crane and Matte Cooke figured in the day's main move, end the race on a strong note.

"It was a great effort all around," Tamayo said. "We were on the podium seven or eight times. I think we showed that we're still one of the top domestic stage racing teams. We built a lot of momentum this week and I think we'll come off this race and tear it up domestically.

Notes

Corey Collier, who sustained a deep gash, bruises and road rash in the high-speed crash in Stage 3, made his way to the finish line in the final stage to complete his first Tour de Georgia despite all the injuries. "I was really impressed with Corey this week," Tamayo said. "He went from 50 miles an hour to zero in that wreck. He was the only guy who went down that was able to get back up and keep going. He suffered a lot to get to the end."