Stillwater, MN – Since the end of the opening stage time trial Wednesday morning, Rory Sutherland of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had been chasing race leader Tom Zirbel (Bissell), needing to close a gap of 0:13 to repeat as champion of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Finally, in the closing minutes of the final stage Sunday, Sutherland caught and passed Zirbel to erase the last seven seconds of his deficit, and take the overall title of the six-stage race by a slim, three-second margin. And there was no way he would’ve done it without a full team effort propelling him.

“We put everything into one late attack,” Sutherland said. “We’ve had race plans and been trying to execute them all week and we just weren’t quite there. Today, everything went right. The guys rode great, executed well and I had the legs at the end.”

Sunday’s two-pronged plan was quite simple, and took advantage of the strength on OUCH Presented by Maxxis, and tried to replicate the scenario that played out at the end of Wednesday night’s St. Paul Criterium.

“When things got really fast and crazy near the end on Wednesday night,” explained team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, “gaps started to form and Zirbel was caught out of position. That allowed Rory to make the front group and pick up those six seconds. We wanted to try to create the same situation again today and open some gaps to see if we could catch Zirbel out.”

But first, Tamayo said, they wanted to make Zirbel’s Bissell teammates work. “We sent the one guy on our team who has the capacity to ride away from guys on this course out on the attack,” he said.

That was Floyd Landis, who initiated an attack with 14 laps to go, that forced Bissell to ride a hard tempo at the front until reeling him back in with seven trips remaining around the notorious Stillwater circuit, which featured the painfully steep Chilkoot Hill at its end. For his efforts, Landis earned the day’s Most Aggressive Rider jersey.

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Oakland, CA – Floyd Landis and two-time defending NRC points champion Rory Sutherland will lead the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis into the 2009 NRC opening Redlands Classic, beginning Thursday, March 26.

“The team has had great preparation for this race,” noted team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. “The guys really came together and raced hard at California, and that showed with our results in Mexico.”

Last year’s Redlands Classic saw NRC champion Sutherland fly to a win in the opening prologue and take a hard-earned 3rd place in the final road stage en route to 4th overall. While Sutherland will still be a marked man, other teams will have to contest with the presence of Landis as well.

“Having serious cards like Landis and Sutherland to play will make things that much more difficult for other teams,” Tamayo said. “It takes the pressure off of Rory because everyone was watching him last year.”

So will the presence of the teams two Canadians, rising stage race star Cameron Evans and sprinter Andrew Pinfold. Both riders enter Redlands on good form after each took a stage win at the Vuelta Mexico earlier this month, and Pinfold rode his way onto the podium in two other stages. Their ability to win out of breaks, as demonstrated in Mexico, adds another element of danger to the team. Joining them on break patrol will be the ever-aggressive Bradley White.

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Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico – The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis held true to form in Stage 7 of la Vuelta Mexico, once again placing a rider in the day’s successful break, this time team captain Floyd Landis.

The 158 km stage followed the same script as the previous several stages, with a break containing riders who weren’t a threat to the overall classification slipping off the front and staying away to the finish.

Landis was part of a six-rider break that included compatriots Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) and Shawn Milne (Team Type 1), as well as eventual stage winner Florencio Ramos (Tecos), Spaniard Rafael Valls (Burgos) and Luis Fernando Macias (Mexican National Team).

The break got away about 40 km into the stage, which featured three KoMs. “We all worked well together for most of the stage,” Landis said.

The peloton afforded the group plenty of leash, with their lead extending out beyond eight minutes. As the stage rolled on, the peloton became a bit more interested in keeping the group close, and by the third KoM the gap was down around five minutes.

“The attacks started happening once we cleared the last climb,” Landis said.

Valls took a flyer and spent about 5 km off the front. Once he was corralled, Ramos put in his winning move coming into the finishing town, with still 13 km to go.

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Oakland, CA - One lucky person and their grateful friend will win a ride with the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis on Saturday, January 24th, during the first weekend of the team’s upcoming training camp in Temecula, California.

The winner and their guest will join the full team and team sponsors for a two-hour VIP ride, during which they’ll have the opportunity to chat with team leaders Floyd Landis, Rory Sutherland and Tim Johnson, as well as the rest of the OUCH Presented by Maxxis squad. The winner will also receive an official Team OUCH race kit, as well as two Team OUCH t-shirts and an experience they’ll never forget.

Entering is easy: go to http://www.teamouch.com/VIP and enter your email address to join the team’s news email list. If you are already subscribed to the email list, you are automatically entered. The deadline for entries is 9:00 PM (U.S. Pacific) on Friday, January 16, and one winner will be selected at random the day after.

Enter today for your shot at a ride with the top professional team in America!