The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis begins the Tour of Missouri Monday with a distinction no other team has earned: a fifth consecutive USA Cycling NRC Team Championship.

Kyle Gritters was sitting in the perfect position to win the Health Net-sponsored Portland Twilight Criterium Friday evening, tucked neatly on the wheel of teammate and current NRC points leader Rory Sutherland in the final lap of the race.

Frank Pipp came close to repeating as champion of the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational in Charlotte Saturday, narrowly missing the win behind Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home).

John Murphy closed out the July 4th weekend with a bang, taking the final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Sunday. Murphy followed a stellar lead-out by super domestique Tim Johnson into the final corner 300 meters from the finish, and jumped hard to open up a gap, which he was able to hold to the line.

The Sierra Nevada range of Northern California, the location of the annual Tour de Nez, is one of the most scenic landscapes in the world. Roman Kilun, Matt Cooke and Corey Collier all had views of the mountains from the best possible vantage point: the podium.

Kilun had the best view of all, twice ascending to the top step of the podium, earning his second win out of five stages in the finale Saturday, a 60-minute affair run on a stellar 3.1 km loop through the Northstar at Tahoe resort near Truckee, California.

Roman Kilun was the driving force at the front of a three-man break in the technical Stage 3 Tour de Nez criterium Thursday evening in Truckee, CA. So when the break succeeded in eluding the grasp of the chasing field, it was only fitting that Kilun was at the front coming across the line in front of a very vocal crowd approaching 5,000.

Rory Sutherland capped a near-perfect Nature Valley Grand Prix Sunday with a 2nd place in the final stage, and sealing the overall victory, his third overall stage race win in six weeks.

With Sutherland taking care of business at the front end to the race, John Murphy also succeeded in solidifying his second place overall position.

Rory Sutherland ran the team's winning streak in road stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix to three after taking Saturday's 91-mile Mankato Road Race.

Sutherland's win follows Kirk O'Bee's victories in Stages 2 and 4. Stage 3 was an individual time trial, while the Stage 1 criterium in Minneapolis was neutralized due to rain while O'Bee was off the front solo.

Kirk O'Bee missed out on a strong chance for the win in Stage 1 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix Wednesday when the stage was neutralized due to bad weather. At the time, the national criterium champion had established a solid lead on the pack solo and looked in good position to stay away until the stage was halted.

In Stage 2, the 60-mile Cannon Falls Road Race, he got his redemption, capping off a perfect team effort with a sprint win in downtown Cannon Falls.

Kirk O'Bee rode a tremendous team effort to 2nd place in a sizzling Philadelphia International Championship Sunday, coming within half a wheel of the top step of the podium in the final leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown.

"The entire team did a great job today. Everything went according to plan," O'Bee said. "Tim (Johnson) and Kyle (Gritters) went to the front going into the last time up the Manyunk wall to help bring the gap down to the break and bring things back together.

After a solid 3rd place Sunday in the CSC Invitational, Karl Menzies of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis noted that the race was a sign of things to come, and they would be looking to improve on that result.

He was right - and quickly. Two days later, at Tuesday's Lehigh Valley Classic, Menzies moved up one step on the podium to second, missing out on the win in a photo finish with Yuri Metlushenko (Amore & Vita/McDonald's).

Karl Menzies finished third at the CSC Invitational out of a 13-rider break that lapped the field.

The break went almost immediately from the start of the 100-lap, 100 km race. And once the break hit full strength within the first 10 laps of the race, the small group began to establish a solid lead. And with almost every major team in the race represented, there were only one or two teams with any motivation to chase. And when that motivation shut off, the lead, which had held at 20 seconds for a number of laps, went out quickly.

Thousands of people lined the 1 km course in downtown Hood River to watch the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis successfully defend the race lead of Rory Sutherland Sunday afternoon. With his teammates patrolling the front, Sutherland easily maintained his 31-second advantage to give Health Net Presented by Maxxis its third consecutive Mt Hood Cycling Classic title, and help Sutherland achieve his second stage race win in as many weeks following the Australian's victory at the Joe Martin Stage Race a week earlier.

Following the successful completion of the Joe Martin Stage Race, Karl Menzies and Frank Pipp of Health Net Presented by Maxxis stayed behind to compete in the Tour of Arkansas, a four-stage race born of the Tri-Peaks Challenge.

Rory Sutherland may have had his winning streak of stage race prologues snapped a couple days ago, but it didn't take him long to get back to winning races against the clock. Sutherland posted the fastest time in Stage 3 of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, the 18-mile Scenic Gorge Time Trial, to not only win the stage but assume the overall race lead.

A three-day, full-gas effort by the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis delivered Rory Sutherland to his second consecutive - and the team's fourth consecutive - overall title at the Joe Martin Stage Race, after the Australian took the race lead in the opening prologue.

In the final-stage criterium Sunday, Sutherland took advantage of teammate John Murphy's lead-out for Karl Menzies, who finished second in a photo finish, to finish 4th on the final stage to seal the win.

Rory Sutherland has won another climbing prologue, this one at the Joe Martin Stage Race. He also won a similar prologue at the Redlands Classic a month ago.

Sutherland recorded a time of 8:14 for the 4 km time trial, 0:10 ahead of Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home) and 0:11 ahead of Nolan Froese (THF Racing).

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis was busy contesting NRC races 3,000 miles apart over the weekend. In the Southwest, Phil Zajicek wasn't sure what to expect when he returned to racing during the opening stage of the Tour of the Gila in and around Silver City, New Mexico last Wednesday. By the end of the final stage Sunday - the infamous Gila Monster - he stood at 4th overall after finishing a strong 4th on the final stage.

In the Southeast, Karl Menzies finished second in the Sunny King Criterium in Anniston, Alabama Saturday, while Kyle Gritters took third in the Historic Roswell Criterium Sunday.

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. Sutherland's riding was emblematic of the entire team during the seven-stage race.

Rory Sutherland is an exceptional all-around rider, but he's not known as the type of climber you'd expect to see at the front of the race on the steep slopes of a mountain like Brasstown Bald.

On the longest stage of the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, a hilly 133.4-mile slog that took in three rated climbs, it was the turn of Tim Johnson to help establish and drive the main break of the day.

Sporting the King of the Mountains jersey he earned in Stage 2, Frank Pipp went back on the attack in Stage 3. He was the driving force behind a four-man break that left the peloton about 39 miles into the 108-mile stage. The foursome stayed away for the next 60 miles, with Pipp being the last hold-out to be caught by a charging peloton driven by the sprinters' teams.

For Sutherland, this is the second consecutive U.S. "Grand Tour" in which he's earned a Most Aggressive Rider jersey.

Frank Pipp made the most of a strong lead-out by teammate Rory Sutherland to take the top spot on the first and only King of the Mountain sprint during Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia Presented by AT&T, thus earning the race's first KOM jersey.

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis was active from the early going of a fast Stage 1 of the Tour de Georgia Presented by AT&T.

"The guys were good at covering pretty much everything that moved," said team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo.

Just three days before what was to be his return to racing at the Tour de Georgia, Phil Zajicek learned from team physician Michael Roshon that the Union Cycliste International (UCI), the sports governing body, had yet to approve the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) applications for the medications he must take to control his recently diagnosed Crohn's disease.

Phil Zajicek knows that come the 6th stage of the Tour de Georgia, he'll be fighting an uphill battle to the top of Brasstown Bald. But the fact that he will even be there at all is a sign that he's finally winning another uphill battle he's been fighting to some degree his entire career, and even more intensely since last summer.

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis is bringing a strong five-man roster to grueling Sea Otter circuit race, run on the legendary Laguna Seca Racetrack on the Monterey Peninsula. The team will be led by 2007 NRC individual points champion Rory Sutherland. The 26-year-old Australian is already showing top form this year, with a 2nd place in the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California, as well as a stage win and 4th overall at the Redlands Classic.

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis played perfect team tactics to put Kyle Gritters and John Murphy on the top two steps of the podium of the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix Sunday. Gritters won out of what started as a 15-man break about 15 laps in, and grew progressively as the 45-lap race went deeper.

Rory Sutherland showed his all-around talent by bookending the 2008 Redlands Classic with a win in the opening climbing prologue, and a third place in the sprint finish of the final stage, the Sunset Road Race. The final stage result helped him to fourth overall for the race, two places better than the 2007 edition.

Rory Sutherland stormed the climbing 5-km opening prologue of the Redlands Classic, recording a time of 9:51.7, 0:02 ahead of Aussie Ben Day (Toyota-United) and 0:09 ahead of Canadian strong man Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United) and Spaniard Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing).

The five-member Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis Representatives squad for the 2008 Tour of Taiwan completed a monumental task on Sunday: defending the overall race lead of John Murphy for six stages after Murphy took over the lead following the race's second stage last Monday.

Representatives of presenting sponsor Maxxis, in Taipei for the Taipei International Bicycle Show, got to see what thousands of fans and media have been seeing since the second day of the 2008 Tour of Taiwan: trips to the podium by John Murphy of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis to collect the yellow and green jerseys of the race and points leader.

All week, Kyle Gritters has been attentive to covering breaks. Today, his attentiveness in covering a move - and following course directions, even when the race officials didn't - earned him the win in Friday's Stage 6 of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan.

John Murphy remains in the yellow leader's jersey after five stages of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan. But what was a 0:15 lead going into the day narrowed to just 0:07 after former Health Net Presented by Maxxis rider Shawn Milne (Team Type 1), who won this race last year, took the stage win today, and the 10-second time bonus that came with it.

John Murphy continues to show he is worthy of wearing the yellow leader's jersey of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan. In Wednesday's 88 km fourth stage, a 40-lap criterium run on a 2.2 km loop, the 24-year-old finished third despite getting cut off in the sprint to the line.

John Murphy is not known for his climbing prowess, but he is known as a tireless worker. He used that work ethic - and the form he built during the Amgen Tour of California - to get over the first major climbs of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan and retain his yellow leader's jersey after today's 117 km third stage.

John Murphy earned the yellow leader's jersey during the second stage of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan in much the same way he earned the green points jersey in Stage 1. Murphy won the second and third intermediate sprints out on the road during the 111 km circuit race, run on a 14 km course, and finished 10th on the stage while helping teammate Kirk O'Bee to 7th on the stage.

Despite traveling half-way around the world just two days earlier, members of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis showed no signs of jet lag in the opening stage of the 2008 Tour de Taiwan. Certainly John Murphy had the legs going.

For the second consecutive day, Rory Sutherland found himself in the main break of the day. Unlike Stage 6, this one stuck. Unfortunately, part of the reason it stuck was the serious horsepower the break contained, including George Hincapie of Team High Road, who won the stage in what ended up a three-up sprint contested by Sutherland, Hincapie and Jason McCartney (CSC).

Rory Sutherland put on a bit of a show for title sponsor Health Net, which sponsored today's 6th stage of the Amgen Tour of California. He was one of the key riders animating the race, earning the red Tachyon Most Aggressive Rider jersey for his efforts in the main break of the day. Sutherland was part of a six-man break that finally established itself on the slopes of the second rated climb of the stage, about 30 km into the 170 km stage.

Following the re-shuffling of the GC race after the grueling Stage 3 into San Jose, the race strategy for the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis changed to attack mode, with the goal of animating the long Stage 4 from Seaside to San Luis Obispo. After a number of attacks didn't stick, Roman Kilun of Health Net Presented by Maxxis helped initiate the day's main break about 25 km into the 217 km stage, despite battling the flu and a fever for the past few days.

Karl Menzies and John Murphy of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis both posted top-20 times in the opening prologue of the Amgen Tour of California. Menzies' time of 4:02 landed him in 15th place, 11 seconds behind the stage winner, world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (CSC).

Riders Matt Crane, Roman Kilun and John Murphy of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis spent part of Valentine's Day at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland.

The four-time NRC champion Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis has finalized its roster for the Amgen Tour of California, February 17-24, 2008.

"We've put together a squad the blends overall GC threats with a number of riders who will be in contention for stage wins nearly every day," noted team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo.

The full squad of 12 riders from the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis stopped by the Solvang School gym parking lot to meet with nearly 200 young students Wednesday morning. The riders talked with the students about bike safety, teamwork and the upcoming Amgen Tour of California, which visits Solvang on February 22 for the Stage 5 time trial.

Even the team vehicles are taking advantage of training camp to get ready for the season.

Rory Sutherland followed up his strong second place in the Australian National Time Trial Championship with third place in the Road Race on Sunday, 0:49 behind winner Matt Lloyd (Silence-Lotto). Adam Hansen (Team High Road), who won the Australian TT title Thursday, barely bested Sutherland on the line to take second.

Rory Sutherland finished second in the Australian National Time Trial Championship Thursday, 0:56 behind gold medalist Adam Hansen (Team High Road). It was the second consecutive year, and third time overall, the rider from Canbera has finished second in the Australian TT nationals.

The Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis made one final roster addition this week by re-signing veteran sprinter and one-day specialist Kirk O'Bee for the 2008 season.

"I'm really comfortable working with this team," O'Bee said. "I know everyone. I had fun racing with these guys last year. We have a good squad and I want to help keep things going."

Covered in mud, with a big smile across his face, Tim Johnson crossed the line first on the messy, snow-covered Wyandotte County, Kansas, course to earn his second elite U.S. National Cyclocross Championship. He won his first elite title in 2007 at the same locale.

Every professional cyclist knows that to achieve success, you need to develop a strong core. The same goes for a successful professional cycling team. For 2008, the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, winner of four consecutive NRC team titles, returns one of the strongest cores in North America.

"The guys we've re-signed for '08 were instrumental to the success of the team in 2007," says Team Directeur Sportif Mike Tamayo. "Building the squad around these guys will ensure the team is just as strong next season."

Perhaps it was fitting that the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had to work on Labor Day to clinch its unprecedented fourth consecutive NRC team title.

At the final race on the NRC calendar - the Atlanta 100 km Classic - Karl Menzies crossed the line 2nd to Emile Abraham (Priority Health/Bissell), but well ahead of Ivan Stevic of Toyota-United, the only team close enough to potentially unseat Health Net Presented by Maxxis at the top of the NRC standings.

Menzies' high placing ensured the crown would stay with Health Net Presented by Maxxis. To top it off, Rory Sutherland of Health Net Presented by Maxxis finished 8th, giving him the necessary points to leap-frog Ben Jacques-Maynes and land atop the individual NRC standings as well.

Kirk O'Bee of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis earned his second career USPro Criterium Champion's stars and stripes jersey in a rain-soaked Downer's Grove Sunday afternoon. Shawn Milne finished third.