Murphy won the opening-stage time trial by a solid 0:31 margin, but had five members of Toshiba within 0:55 of him after
the stage.
But after the second stage - an unusual street sprint stage done over three rounds of sprints only, with time bonuses awarded
for the top three finishers in each sprint - Murphy pushed his lead out to a slightly more comfortable 0:54 after winning
all three rounds of his sprints.
From there it was a matter of being vigilant and riding defensively. He finished second in the stage 3 circuit race, and
second again with a composite team in the stage 4 team time trial. But his lead had shrunk to 0:20 after the TTT. That lead
held through stage 5, and despite a time bonus for another second place in the stage 6 criterium, his lead dropped to 0:16.
But that's where it stayed after the final stage criterium.
"The last couple criteriums were hard," Murphy said. "Toshiba was attacking constantly. But I knew after Stage 2 that I
just had to stay close and follow (Frank) Trevieso (Toshiba) and I'd be fine.
"I'm pretty tired," he continued. "But I think the work I did this weekend will pay off next weekend at the CSC Invitational
and during Philly Week. I have a couple days to recover from this race so I should be good."
