"I couldn't have done it without Marco (Vasquez) and Mark (Brackenbury)," Spence said after accepting the final yellow jersey of race leader Sunday. "Those guys did a fantastic job."

Vasquez and Brackenbury's hard work to keep Spence in the yellow jersey was never more evident than in Friday night's downtown criterium. Lap after lap, the pair chased down attack after attack for nearly the entire 45-minute race.

"I felt pressure for sure," Spence said. "In the crit, the guy in second place at the time (Michael Larsen of Bend Bike 'N Sport) was definitely looking to split it up and possibly get gap."

But with Vasquez and Brackenbury again patrolling the front of the peloton Saturday, Spence put more time into Larsen with a second-place finish in the 85-mile Pacific Power-Cascade Lakes Road Race. Stage winner Christopher Phipps (ZTeam), who soloed in for the win, now loomed as Spence's biggest challenger, 1:28 behind.

Spence said that made Sunday's 63-mile Deschutes Brewery-Awbrey Butte Circuit Race the toughest of the three-day, four-stage race.

Photo at right: Marco Vasquez leads Team Kaos teammate Chris Spence through a corner during the Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy-Downtown Criterium. (Photo courtesy Gregg Zivney.)

"It was hard," he said. "I got in a break with Chris (Phipps) and some other strong guys and we were away for awhile," Spence said. "I basically sat on and Chris was driving it because the third place guy was not in our group."

Spence's 10th-place finish - in the same time as the stage winner - made his final margin of victory 1:28 over Phipps. Brackenbury finished 13th overall while Vasquez was 18th.

In the Pro-I-II race, Team Kaos' Ian Gray finished 32nd and Matt Landen 55th, respectively, in Sunday's 80-mile Deschutes Brewery Awbrey Butte Circuit Race as nearly two dozen racers dropped out. Gray wound up 29th overall, 11:41 behind winner Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), while Landen was 51st overall, 38:33 behind.

Team Kaos' other competitor in the event, Matt Pavlovich, finished 37th on Sunday's stage of the Cat. III division to climb a couple places in the final overall classification. He finished 33rd, 4:45 behind Jason Walker (Reno Wheelmen).