Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Ivan Stevic is back in the lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix after Stage 3.
St. Paul -Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team pulled off a stunning performance in Friday morning’s Stage 3 individual time trial to regain the yellow jersey he lost the night before at the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix.

The Serbian National Champion was only nine seconds slower than eight-time Australian national time trial champion Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who won the 5.0-mile (8.0 km) race against the clock with an average speed of 31.6 mph.

Stevic’s third-place finish – behind Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and just six-tenths of a second ahead of Toyota-United teammate Chris Baldwin – put him back in the race lead heading into Friday night’s Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium. Stevic leads O’Neill by six seconds, with Stage 2 winner Kirk O’Bee (Health Net) in third place, nine seconds back. Baldwin’s time trial moved him from 34th to fifth place overall, 15 seconds behind Stevic.

There are a total of four bonus sprints in tonight’s criterium, each carrying time bonuses of five, three and one-second for the first three riders. Additionally, there are bonuses of 15, 10 and six seconds for the first three finishers of the stage. With 39 riders within one minute of the lead, the time bonus sprints are expected to figure heavily into the 60-minute race.

Stevic’s remarkable ride back into the race lead helped Toyota-United forget the misfortunes suffered on Stage 3’s 65.3-mile (105 km) road race Thursday night in Cannon Falls, Minn. Baldwin was involved in a large pile-up less than 15 kilometers into the stage and had to switch bikes three times after it was discovered his Fuji bicycle frame had been damaged in the crash.

Additionally, Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry, who has been plagued by illness for much of the season, withdrew from the event after finishing more than nine minutes down in Thursday night’s race. Earlier in the stage, Wherry had figured prominently in Toyota-United’s chase to catch three riders who held a nearly two minutes’ lead with 30 km remaining in the race. The trio was caught after the race reached the finishing circuits within Cannon Falls and Stevic finished fourth in the bunch sprint.