Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic joins the other jersey wearers after Stage 4.
Minneapolis - — Calling his teammates’ performance “simply amazing,” Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team widened his overall lead Friday night during the Stage 4 Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

An estimated crowd of nearly 20,00 watched as Toyota-United controlled the 60-minute race, helping Stevic win three time bonus sprints (amounting to 15 seconds) as well as a 10-second time bonus for second place on the stage. Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) scored his second stage win of the race while Toyota-United’s Henk Vogels finished third.

“The guys were doing perfect lead-outs for me all night,” Stevic said. “They did everything as we planned, except for me getting second. I had hoped to win. Unfortunately, in the final sprint, I didn’t see O’Bee coming around at all. But we’re happy with second and third on the stage. It shows Toyota-United is the strongest team at the race.”

Stevic’s lead over O’Bee stands at 19 seconds with two stages remaining: Saturday’s 86.8-mile (139.7 km) Mankato Road Race and an hour-long criterium in Stillwater, Minn. Sunday. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) are tied for third, 31 seconds behind Stevic. Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin is fifth, 40 seconds off the lead.

Throughout Friday night’s race, Toyota-United rode on the front to discourage attacks and limit breakaways from getting too far ahead. The average speed for the race was 36.9 mph.

“From the first moment I came back to the bus after the race, I saw the guys were so happy,” Stevic said. “This night was all about winning those bonus sprints and keeping the pressure on. They definitely want to win this race and it really gives me so much positive energy.”

In third place in the team classification, Toyota-United’s remaining seven riders include Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Justin England, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and Vogels. An eighth team member who started the race, Chris Wherry, had to retire after Stage 2 due to illness.

Saturday’s road race includes four point bonus sprints (a classification Stevic leads) but only time bonuses on the finish line for the first three finishers. The 118 riders remaining in the race will complete four laps of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit in Mankato that Stevic calls “challenging.”

“They’re short, but steep climbs, so the finish is pretty hard,” he said. “Before that, it will pretty much be rolling hills and we’ll have to contend with the wind like we did on the other road stage. So it’s going to be hard to control the race.”