Chilkoot Hill is just an eighth of a mile long, but with its 24-percent grade, it practically reaches up to bite you on the nose.

It’s a hill with which Rory Sutherland (Health Net), the GC leader going into the final stage in Stillwater, is quite familiar.

“It suits me down to the ground,” he said.

But under sunny skies and mild breezes and among several thousand enthusiastic fans, one thing got between Sutherland and the finish line. His name was David Veilleux, and he’s just 20 years old.

Veilleux, the French-Canadian rider for Minneapolis-based Kelly Benefit Strategies, charged past the yellow jersey just five meters from the top of the hill to cross the finish line first, snatching it from Sutherland’s plate. Afterward, the young man said matter of factly, “It was a good day for us.”

He and teammate Andrew Bajadali lurked at the front of the peloton, cheered on by several thousand fans who lined Chilkoot Hill four and five deep, some of them clinging to the limestone walls and tree roots.

For most of the race’s 18 trips up the hill, Health Net’s Phil Zajicek, Romun Kilun, and John Murphy escorted the yellow jersey in a show of power at the head of the main group. They were unconcerned with an impressive escape by Brad White (SuccessfulLiving.com) that stuck for 11 laps. Colavita’s Anibal Borrajo bridged up to White and helped for several laps, then a couple other riders came and went. But Health Net stayed patient and stayed put, never letting the leaders out of sight, or more than 15 seconds up the road.

With four laps to go, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) launched an attack at the crux of the hill, but this time Health Net stood up to do some spring cleaning; they decided to clear the road ahead. Jacques-Maynes, who wore yellow on Thursday and Friday, was swept up first. White was next.

Aaron Olson (Bissell) and Luis Amaran (Colavita) managed to stay just ahead of the sweep, and with three laps to go, Veilleux was emboldened to test his legs. He bridged up and joined the five second advantage, but quickly decided to back off to save some powder.

After the penultimate climb, Amaran was into the dustpan and the group was together, but on the descent Bajadali ran out ahead along with Rock Racing’s Cesar Grajales. The Kelly plan was to set Bajadali up for the stage win, but a pack of 20 riders, led by Sutherland and Murphy, absorbed the two on the final climb up Chilkoot Hill.

“I knew Baj was there,” said Veillieux. “And I just stayed in fourth or fifth wheel.” With just a few bike lengths left to the line, Veillieux made his move. Rory Sutherland glanced over and gave a double-take, surprised to see the 20-year old charge past to break the tape first.

“I definitely wanted to win for my boys, but you know there’s a step system of priorities,” said Sutherland afterward. “Number one is to win the jersey. Next was to keep John Murphy in second. After that, to win the stage. Sometimes you have to cross things off the list. That kid – I call him a kid because he’s a young guy and he’s a little inexperienced – but he’s obviously passionate about racing and he’s got a big future if he’s doing something like that. Not just to get by me but the guys behind me… for somebody of his age to be able to step around, you know, good on him. That’s fantastic for him.”

Health Net had plenty to be pleased about. Last year, with much the same roster, the team dominated the race without winning the GC. This year, they shared some of the glory with Bissell and Kelly Benefit Strategies, but ended up with the top two podiums.

“It was sweet and sour last year with not winning the GC, so it was definitely a goal,” said HealthNet team director Mike Tamayo. “If you look at the overall race, we dictated most of the decisive moves. In Mankato, for example, we were the team driving into the crosswinds to soften it up before the circuits.” And who was the target of all that softening? Team Bissell and Ben Jacques-Maynes—a rider who is remarkably similar to Sutherland in strength and style.

“I want to give props to Bissell,” said Tamayo. “They’re a really strong team, with so much horsepower. Guys like Zirbel and Ziwizanski and Eddy King, those guys are really solid, really strong diesels. Our team has a lot of guys that can win. The biggest thing about this team is that we’re all for one. We have a lot of cards we can play, and whoever that card is, that’s who we’ll play.”

Armstrong: It hurts the same, she just goes faster

There is no “team” in “me.” That could be the motto for Kristin Armstrong, whose exhibit of pure athletic prowess during the Nature Valley Grand Prix should leave little doubt about who the odds-on favorite for gold in Beijing is. With just one teammate, Australian Emma Rickards, Armstrong withstood a steady hammering from the deeply talented teams of TIBCO, Cheerwine, Colavita/Sutter Home and Aaron’s, along with 15 other strong teams, to claim the NVGP yellow jersey for the third time in three years.

After the 90-mile Mankato stage and her dominating 60-second gap established on that course’s steep circuit, Armstrong was tapped. She was physically and emotionally exhausted, and the toll of the race carried over into Sunday’s finale.

“Before this race today,” she said, “I went out and rolled around for about 10 minutes, and I couldn’t do it anymore. I came back to my husband and said my legs hurt so bad that I wasn’t sure about today. Every minute I was out there, my legs hurt more and more.”

She initially let others attack. Third time up, she knew Cheerwine was in pursuit.

“I wasn’t going to subject myself to that again,” Armstrong said. “When I found out Cheerwine was coming up, I was like, I gotta go.”

And she went. With nine laps to go, she stepped away from Andrea Dvorak (Colavita/Sutter Home) and Joanne Kiesanowski (TIBCO) and established an immediate 5-second gap. On each subsequent 1-mile lap, she compiled 5- to 10-second negative splits, building her final margin to 68 seconds. That left the rest of the peloton to focus on second place.

It was a dramatic battle between Dvorak, Kiesanowski, Katherine Carroll (Aaron’s) and the powerful women of Cheerwine -- especially Leigh Hobson, Anne Samplonius, and Laura Van Gilder. Carroll led Samplonius on the GC by just 7 seconds. Hobson captured the second position behind Armstrong. Two seconds behind her, Kiesanowski took third ahead of Dvorak, Carroll, and Van Gilder. The strong finish by Carroll—after finishing third in Mankato – insured her place on the GC podium right next to Armstrong, with Samplonius preserving her bronze finish.

Carroll was pleased with second, and expressed admiration for Armstrong.

“I hope she wins a gold medal in Beijing. And then we can all feel better about ourselves, to get beat so handily by her,” she said with a laugh. “I mean she’s a great competitor and a great athlete, and anytime you get to race with someone like that, it just makes you better.”