The Bulletin, Bend / Central Oregon News
NOVEMBER 21, 2009 06:19 PM
bendbulletin.com/Cascade Cycling Classic
more photosA breakaway including Jeremy Vennell, far right, followed by Mike Olheiser, Peter Salon, Victor Hugo Pena and Chris Baldwin, climbs the grade west of Prineville on state Highway 126 ahead of the peloton, visible on the grade in the background Tuesday during Stage 1 of the 30th Cascade Cycling Classic.
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Surprise moves
Jacques-Maynes claims first stage with late breakaway
By Mark Morical / The Bulletin
Published: July 22. 2009 4:00AM PSTThey gave him an inch, and he took the stage.
Ben Jacques-Maynes was not necessarily trying to break away from a lead group of five riders late in Stage 1 of the pro men’s Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. But he suddenly found himself with a five-second lead with just one kilometer to go.
He maintained that lead on a hot, sunny afternoon to finish all alone Tuesday at Bend’s Big Sky Park and Sports Complex in front of a hundred or so appreciative spectators.
“I looked back to try and figure out who was going to come get me, and then I took another hard pull (a turn at the front of the group) … all the way to the finish line,” said Jacques-Maynes, of Watsonville, Calif. “There’s no reason to hold anything back at that point — just turn the cranks as hard as you can.”
Jacques-Maynes, who rides for Bissell, finished the 71-mile Smith Rock Road Race in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 3 seconds; 10 seconds ahead of second-place Jeff Louder of BMC and third-place Francisco Mancebo Perez of Rock Racing.
Seven other cyclists also finished 10 seconds back.
Louder was perhaps the best sprinter (cyclist capable of strong bursts of speed at short distances) in the group of five cyclists that broke away about 2K from the finish.
Jacques-Maynes said he wanted no part of a sprint against the other contenders.
“But they gave me an inch,” he added. “And I’m going to take that and exploit that situation.”
Louder, of Salt Lake City, and the three other cyclists hesitated when Jacques-Maynes took off.
“Ben crossed the road and had a lot of power,” said Louder, a three-time overall runner-up at the CCC. “Everyone kind of looked at each other, and as soon as he had a five-second gap, anyone who committed was going to get beat.
“There was a lot of attacking in the end. We all spent quite a bit of time without water, so I think people were cramping a lot.”
Louder managed to just outlast Mancebo Perez — a former Spanish national champion who in the Tour de France placed sixth in 2004 and fifth in 2005 — at the finish line for second place.
A pro men’s field of nearly 200 riders faced temperatures approaching the mid-90s in the early afternoon. Tuesday’s Stage 1 started at 11 a.m. in Redmond and took cyclists past Smith Rock State Park into Prineville, then south through Powell Butte and east to Bend.
An initial breakaway of 15 riders swelled to 23 riders near the feed zone just outside of Prineville. Jacques-Maynes bridged to the large lead group, which became smaller and smaller toward the finish.
“I could see some of the guys were getting tired from their hard work, and with about five miles to go, the aggressiveness opened up,” Jacques-Maynes said. “There were some attacks on these final rollers (hills) coming in. Those really stung some guys’ legs. It was hard to accelerate up and over those when you’ve already been riding hard all day.”
Jacques-Maynes, 30, said he drank about 10 bottles of water throughout the 71-mile race.
He won the McKenzie Pass Road Race in the 2007 Cascade Cycling Classic, in which he finished third overall. In last year’s CCC, Jacques-Maynes suffered a broken collarbone in a crash during the Downtown Criterium in Bend and withdrew from the race.
Now with the lead, Jacques-Maynes hopes to hang on during today’s 80-mile Three Creeks Road Race and then perhaps gain some more time in Thursday’s Skyliners Time Trial. The criterium is scheduled for Saturday night.
“I’ve got to get through that one,” Jacques-Maynes said of the criterium. “Luckily, the course is going to be pretty straightforward.
“I’m looking forward to the time trial and being able to have a good stage there, and just defend myself in some of the hilltops and see how it goes.”
Mark Morical can be reached at 541-383-0318 or at mmorical@bendbulletin.com.
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