April 2010 News Articles

The third stage of the Tour of Gila was a 16+ mile time trial with high altitude as an added factor. The race against the clock started out with a strong head/cross wind followed by a treacherous descent into a u-turn. Ben Jacques-Maynes had the 8th best time and was BISSELL’s highest placed rider.

Wamsley Wrestles the Wind

Stage 2 was 80 miles in horrendous wind. From the start, the race separated into 4 groups with significant time gaps developing between each group. On the 50k to the finish, DZ Nuts and Mellow Johnny’s set the tempo while others were content to stay sheltered from the wind, as much as possible. At 3 miles out, BISSELL hit the front as the deadly cross wind reared its ugly head. The team did outstanding work to keep Kyle Wamsley in good position for the finish. Kyle had an amazing sprint across the line to capture 3rd on the day. The team rode a smart and strong race and looks forward to the time trial tomorrow.

The Tour of Gila lived up to its title as the country’s toughest high altitude race with the opening 94 miles which included an uphill finish at 7,000 feet of elevation. BISSELL’s Cody O’Reilly made the break of the day which came only 5 miles into the stage as a group of 11 rode away. The lead group built up a maximum 10 minute time gap but was eventually brought back at the beginning of the 6 mile climb to the finish. Paul Mach and Rob Britton demonstrated their outstanding climbing ability against the world’s strongest high altitude climbers to capture top 20 results. Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny’s) won the stage and the leader’s jersey.

Due to Copyrighted material we cannot display the article on this website but you may follow the link to read the two articles on Peter Latham

Peter Latham Articles:

Road Cyclist - http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TeamTalk/peter-latham-road-pro-cyclist.html

Track Cyclist - http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/TeamTalk/peter-latham-track-cyclist.html

By Greg Lydon

Posted: 04/19/2010 01:30:33 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ -- Watsonville native Ben Jacques-Maynes turned down the final stretch, looked behind him one last time to see only his teammate trailing, and raised his arms high into the sky as he crossed the finish line.

Jacques-Maynes became the latest Bissell Pro Cycling Team member to snatch up a first-place finish as the local rider won the 50-lap Pro-Am race at the 42nd annual Santa Cruz Classic Criterium in Santa Cruz on Sunday.

The Bissell Team simply can't be beat as of late. After winning anything and everything put in front of them during the four-day Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, the Bissell Team showed off their might one more time in the finale of the Criterium.

Jacques-Maynes took first, while 22-year-old teammate Cody O'Reilly wasn't far behind in second.

"It was a great team effort," Jacques-Maynes said. "Cody and I got away quickly and pushed each other hard the rest of the way."

On a bright, sunny day, riders started buzzing through the streets of Beach Hill about 8 a.m., with the eight-race event culminating with the men's pro race that began just after 1:30 in the afternoon.

Dominant from the very beginning, there wasn't much drama to be had in the finale. Jacques-Maynes and O'Reilly pushed the pace early and built up a sizable lead very early in the 50-lap affair.

At one point of the race, the top six riders were all Bissell team members.

"The guys in the back really did a great job," Jacques-Maynes said. "It's a classic course. I've been up on the podium before, but this is my first time winning it."

The Criterium was a warmup for pro cycling action in Santa Cruz. The Amgen Tour of California will visit the area next month, with Stage 3 of the event wrapping up by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on May 18.

"It's a prestigious event and it feels great to win," Jacques-Maynes said. "I want to have this same winning feeling again here around mid May."

Bissell next heads to the Tour of the Gila held in Silver City, New Mexico. The road race event begins on April 28 and concludes on May 2.

While the men's race outcome was determined long before the final lap, the 20-lap women's race was a tightly contested all the way to the end.

The trio of Olivia Dillon, Mary Maroon and Amanda Miller pulled away from the pack of 42 riders midway through the race.

Dillon, 37, took the lead for good at the top of the hill, winning the one-on-one race up the hill with Maroon, who finished second, while Miller took third.

"The race was really aggressive from the start," Dillon said. "The three of us worked well together. I wanted to get rid of both of them before the final lap, but they stayed right with me. It feels really awesome to win."

Maroon, a member of the Touchstone Climbing Team, was teammates with Dillon last year before Dillon moved over to the Peanut Butter and Co, Twenty 12 Team.

With no one giving up an inch during the final three laps, veteran rider Dillon forced her former teammate to try and pass her on the uphill climb.

"I just went for it," Maroon said. "It's a really fun course. I'm not a hill climber, but she forced me to try and beat her going up the hill."

Other race winners included Jesse Moore in the men's 35-plus 1/2/3 race and Craig Zeller in the men's Category 5 race. Ellen Sherrill won the women's Category 4 race, Tim Fehon won the men's 35-plus Category 4 race, Johannes Steffens won the men's Category 3 race and Martin Acosta won the men's Category 4 race.

By: Bruce Gallaudet, Enterprise staff writer

April 18th, 2010

For Davis professional cyclist Paul Mach, the dedication is absolute. More than 25 hours a week are spent on the road, cycling. Another five to 10 hours are involved with stretching, weights and various other conditioning techniques.

He's put in the effort and seen great gains in race placement. Now he just waits...

A second-year member of the American Team Bissell pro group, Mach is awaiting word about whether his accomplishments and condition have punched his ticket for the Amgen Tour of California, coming to Davis on May 17.

“Nothing is official, but I think my results so far this year put me well into the running,” Mach says. “I've definitely improved from last year and have raced well in the big races I've done.

“But I'm waiting tillthey decide on the official roster before I get excited.”

Judging from the Davis Bike Club member's recent accomplishments, Mach has every right to be encouraged.

Last June he won the rugged Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon. He was third in a San Dimas Race Stage and 10th at the Redland Cycling Classic last month.

His 19th-place finish in the Herald Sun Tour of Australia in October was his highest-graded race finish ever — and if the Bissell people give him the green light for the Tour of California, the UC Davis graduate student will be situated squarely among the world's elite riders.

“Pro cycling doesn't have a lot of job security,” Mach explains, laughing. “You pretty much have to ride well every year to get next year's contract. So I'm not really sure how long I'll be able to do it.

“That being said, I'm having a lot of fun and I've been riding better than ever, so the future looks bright.”

Married for three years, the Seattle native's wife Sara is a math teacher at Davis High.

Off the bike, Mach says “hanging with my wife and researching computational geometry-related protein folding problems” are his favorite pastimes. He didn't clarify if Sara and he pursue the research together.

An 800-meter runner when at Seattle Pacific University, the 28-year-old Mach incredibly started cycling only in 2005 when he moved to Davis for grad school.

He rode for the Davis Bike Club and UCD before being picked up by Bissell.

Mach is the reigning NorCal district road race and time-trial champion, but while he admits “these results aren't as big” as the Mt. Hood or Australia races, “They are still pretty cool and an honor.”

He remains a committed member of the Davis Bike Club and Mach is appreciative of everything the organization and the Davis community, in general, has given him.

“They've provided me with a lot of support over the years — both financial and otherwise,” Mach notes. “The support (is) why I'm riding for a professional team today. I can't thank the club (and) community enough.”

If all goes well, Mach will do proud those who have supported him — sandwiched right in there between Lance Armstrong, Mark Cavendish and Levi Leipheimer as the eight-day Tour of California departs downtown Davis next month.

Notes: Mach took first in a Madera Stage Race (Ben Hur Time Trial) and won five lower-division races in 2009. … Mach stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 154 pounds. … The Davis Bike Club was the best all-around team in Northern California for 2009 and the women's road race champion, Amy Chandos, also rides for DBC. … And don't forget, the reigning national collegiate cycling title-holding team is from UCD.

http://search.davisenterprise.com/display.php?id=65029

The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team dominated California racing this weekend with wins at all three of the Sea Otter road events and a podium sweep at the Santa Cruz Criterium.

BISSELL’s nine man roster for the weekend included Paul Mach, Ben Jacques-Maynes, Jeremy Vennell, Andy Jacques-Maynes, Kyle Wamsley, Rob Britton, Cody O’Reilly, and Shane Kline. The racing at Sea Otter got underway on Thursday with a 60 minute crit around Laguna Seca Raceway. BISSELL exploded quickly in the race with a breakaway containing a majority of BISSELL riders. By race end, the lead group was all BISSELL, and teammates battled it out for the finish. Jeremy Vennell took the win with AJM, Mach, BJM, Britton, and O’Reilly placing second through sixth, respectively.

Friday brought the 68 mile Sea Otter Road Race which contained 9 laps just outside the race track on the Fort Ord course. Again, BISSELL exhibited their outstanding skill and tactics, and Mach led the team with his win. Britton finished second, BJM third, Wamsley fifth, and AJM seventh.

Saturday’s 2 hour circuit race was a tough day around Laguna Seca with the competition escalating each day. The course contained a very long steep climb and the treacherous cork screw descent. BISSELL made it a hat trick at Sea Otter with Mach taking the third win for the team. An early race break saw several BISSELL riders shuffling in the group. The team maintained its control with Mach attacking out of the lead group with 3 laps to go. He crossed the finish line solo taking a commanding victory.

Having thoroughly mastered Sea Otter, BISSELL ventured north to the home turf of the Jacques-Maynes and Holloway for Sunday’s Santa Cruz Criterium. The 50 lap race through the streets of Santa Cruz contained a punchy climb up Beach Hill. BISSELL threw it out almost from the start with an early attack. The BISSELL duo of BJM and Cody O’Reilly put their heads down and got right to work maintaining the breakaway for the entire race and building up a maximum gap of 53 seconds. The two teammates crossed the line together with arms held high with BJM taking the win in front of his hometown crowd. The field sprint for third came almost a lap back and BISSELL continued to reign supreme with Kyle taking third and his lead out teammate, Holloway, taking fourth.

The riding, team work, and weather were brilliant for the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team this weekend. The team wishes to extend special thanks to their sponsors from BISSELL, Advantage Benefits, Pinarello, Gita, Easton, and Speedplay who were on hand for their victories!

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 12, 2010 –The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team will be among the 16 teams competing in the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, AEG announced last week. Organizers of the 8 day event invited BISSELL to compete with the tour’s seven pro tour teams, two pro continental teams, and seven of the top domestic teams in North America.

BISSELL has been part of this premier race since 2007, capturing overall results in the top 20 and time trial results in the top 10 each year. In 2009, a BISSELL rider won the most courageous jersey. “The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team has had great results at the Tour of California,” said team manager Glen Mitchell “As the tour experiences outstanding growth, I see that growth reflected in our own team. We are honored and thrilled to once again be racing in on this worldwide stage, which happens to be the home turf for the majority of our riders. We take seriously the responsibility to perform well here and provide exciting racing for the eyes of the world.”

The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team also looks forward to taking part in many events leading up to the Amgen Tour of California. On May 12, the team will be visiting charitable partner, the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, where riders will be taking part in the annual BISSELL Spring Clean Up Day. In addition to participating in the service project, the team will be meeting with the resident families and talking about their participation in the upcoming race. The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team will also be featured guests at the VIP reception for sponsors and volunteers of the stage 4 finish city of Modesto on May 13.

Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by lyne

When the 128-rider field rolls out in Nevada City to start the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, Ben Jacques-Maynes of the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team will be there once again. His goal, a stage win.

“I would really like to win a stage at Tour of California, I’ve been looking forwards to it. There’s a lot of hope and dreams pinned on certain things and you just have to take it day by day, hope a good day on the day that you make it in the breakaway.” said Jacques-Maynes.

The California-native has raced in every edition of the event. “The Tour has been growing every year and this is another leap and bound that is going to be easily measurable. Only the last day is under 100 miles and if it’s a repeat start & finish [city], they’ve put in harder hills in between, longer distances, and then a couple brand new stages with massive amount of climbing.”

It is a tough course this year and finally we have a mountain top finish on stage 6 from Pasadena to Big Bear Lake. (Note the conversation occurred before the news about the change to stage 6)

“People are talking about the hilltop finish up to Big Bear but they don’t realize that you go all the way up to almost 8000 feet on the first climb. You look at that and you look at all the days that add up to it, you do 195 km, you do 195 km again. 213 km that day only at altitude, you start at sea level only climb to huge amount of altitude so that’s going to be trying. There’s a lot of bike racing that will be going on.”

From February to May. “A lot of guys coming in from Europe are going to have their A game ready and it will become like Tour de Georgia racing,” replied Jacques-Maynes about the impact of such a move.

“A lot of guys, maybe American fans haven’t really heard of, you had Sivtsov win Tour de Georgia last year and everyone was ‘who is this guy, where has he come from?’ well if you had been paying attention to European racing, he’s one of the best hilltop climb finisher possible.”

In 2008, Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Columbia-HTC) seemingly came out of nowhere to win Brasstown Bald and the overall at the Tour de Georgia. The change in dates might also bring about a non-American winner, for the first time ever or a surprise winner. In the last two editions of the Tour de Georgia, the overall winner was not a favorite going into the race and not an American.

“It may not be the all American all the time show that previous Tour of California have been, there could be a random guy. That’s the thing about European racing, everyone is good over there, there are so many people that you’ve never heard of that have a good chance of winning just because they’ve had a good training block or are on the way to good preparation, have their team support, you get HTC-Columbia behind you there’s a good chance you’re going to win.”

Santa Cruz is back. Last year, Jacques-Maynes had his eye on stage 2 which ended in his hometown of Santa Cruz. He made his way into an early break where he, along with the peloton, battled horrendous weather conditions that included pouring rain, hail and strong side- and headwinds. Added to the physical misery on that day was the mental blow of learning about his twin brother Andy’s crash back in the field.After slogging their way down the coast, five of the six riders in the break were caught on the final climb up Bonny Doon. An emotional Jacques-Maynes was awarded the Most Courageous jersey that day in front of friends and family.

“I guarantee it’s going to be a nice day.” smiled Jacques-Maynes about this year’s stage 3 which ends in Santa Cruz. “I’m going to be on better form, I can pretty much guarantee that everybody else is going to be on better form. “

On that fateful day last year, Francisco Mancebo of the Rock Racing team had the yellow jersey after soloing to victory the previous day, once again in pouring rain.

“You won’t have a weird happenstance like a guy getting away and keeping it the day before or a random team on the front like a Rock Racing, then a big breakaway going and hitting the bottom of the hill. I don’t think a situation like that will ever eventuate, if you look at Tour de Georgia, it was very controlled, long days, the breakaways… with over 200k have a very low chance of lasting that long. The sprint teams get on the front, we’re doing 55k an hour and it’s easy for them [to catch us].”

You can count on the Jacques-Maynes brothers going for the win again on the Santa Cruz stage.

A stage win has eluded the 31-year old rider, but for many, Jacques-Maynes should have worn the yellow jersey after stage 1 in 2007. He avoided a major crash involving around fifty riders in the finishing circuits with 10 kilometers to go to finish safely ahead of the field in Santa Rosa. With his third place finish in the prologue that would have put him on top of the leaderboard, but the commissaires decided to extend the neutral final 3-kilometer to where the crash occurred.

In 2008, he finished ninth in the time trial and sixteenth overall. This year it’s about stage wins and taking a chance.

“If things don’t happen…. you can still have the best day possible, the best situation and those ProTour teams can still mow it down, they don’t care about your hometown status, they’re there to win the bike race too so even in the best of circumstances it has a 98 percent chance of failure but that’s not going from me from trying, at least stepping out.”

And if it doesn’t work, try again.

“If it fails on one day, I’ve proven over the last couple of years that I’ve been able to take a day or two off, rest and recuperate and go at it again. If it doesn’t work one day, keep on going, maybe I’ll lose some time on GC, they’ll give me a little bit more leash, who knows that’s how racing goes. You know how to bike race, you know how to put yourself in a situation where things have a better chance of working out.” concluded Jacques-Maynes.

His preparation for the big race included Merco Cycling Classic where he won the Foothills Road Race and the overall and the NRC opener Redlands Bicycle Classic where he finished second overall in a virtual tie with overall winner Ben Day (Fly V Australia). Next up is Sea Otter Classic followed by Tour of the Gila.

http://www.podiuminsight.com/2010/04/07/hope-and-dreams-for-ben-jacques-maynes-in-california/