March 1, 2007

Amgen Tour of California finds its way to San Jose

SJ cyclist dropped as world’s best rocket over Sierra Road onto podium at City Hall

By Karl Laucher
Special to the Times

It was there on a silver platter: the opportunity for cycling dynamo Ben Jacques-Maynes of San Jose to become a hometown hero for all time.

Levi Leipheimer of Team Discovery dons the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the second annual Amgen tour of California on Feb 21.

After two stages in the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race, Jacques-Maynes was standing in third place on the strength of his brilliant effort in the 1.9-mile prologue in front of 300,000 spectators on the streets of San Francisco three days earlier.

Jacques-Maynes knew his challenge well. Living just a 10-minute bike ride from the gut-ripping Sierra Road in North San Jose, the former National Collegiate champion out of UC-Santa Cruz had done many training treks up the 10 percent Sierra grade, the toughest climb in the entire eight-stage Tour of California.

But it wasn’t to be. The cheering throngs and the beautiful views of Silicon Valley from atop Sierra could not save the day for Jacques-Maynes against many of the best cyclists in the world. He finished in 48th place. The race began with 139 riders.

“Sierra Road is a brute,” Jacques-Maynes said. “It’s 25 minutes of pure pain. I was riding a couple of gears harder than I usually do and I still was getting dropped.”

“Obviously these are the best riders in the world,” he added.

Indeed, the top two teams in last years Tour de France, Discovery Channel of the U.S. and CSC of Denmark, were represented up front in the rush to the finish line, personified by current American cycling idol Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa and Jens Voight of Germany, respectively. Their time over the 95-mile course: 3 hours, 43 minutes. 44 seconds, with Voight winning by a bike length.

The roar of spectators that celebrated the rush to the finish at the suddenly sun-splashed San Jose City Hall Rotunda by Voight and Leipheimer was somewhat subdued when Jacques-Maynes checked in 3 minutes, 3 seconds behind. Nevertheless, Jacques-Maynes, 28, riding for the Priority Health Cycling Team Presented by Bissell (USA), said his career has been reenergized with a team which is paying him twice as much as he earned last year (he would not disclose his earnings) even though Priority Health will keep to a domestic (US) racing schedule.

The top three finisher of the second annual Amgen Tour of California: Jens Voight (middle), Levi Leipheimer (right), and Chris Horner (left). Photos by Dan Miranda

Meanwhile, the big leaguers like Voight and Leipheimer chimed in on the pain and suffering that is the Sierra Road hill climb, particularly coming as it does in the final 20 miles of the race, which began that Feb. 21 morning in Stockton. Leipheimer called the race “a real bike race—a huge battle.”

Leipheimer said he was inspired, in part, by having former Discovery Team leader Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, shouting encouragement from the team car.

While Leipheimer admitted to “getting goose pimples” at the top of Sierra Road with the enthusiastic spectators and the smashing view of the valley, the energy at the finish line was of a finely-tuned capitalistic machine, the commercial capital of the race with many booths selling cycling merchandise and promoting cycling causes. In one booth was the 2007 Tour of California and the 2007 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis, who is temporarily suspended from cycling because of a reported finding of synthetic testosterone in his system in one of eight tests taken during the Tour de France. Landis has said he is innocent and is appealing the charges.

Among those on the podium at the finish line was San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who proclaimed: “As a weekend bicycle rider and a fan of international cycling, I’m thrilled to have the Amgen Tour of California here today.”

The field of the 2007 AMGEN tour of California rounds the corner on HWY 1 heading towards Rio road for the start of the 4th stage in Carmel, CA.

The race announcer thereupon asked the crowd “should we bring the Amgen Tour of California back to San Jose next year?” After a cheer of sorts, he said, “duly noted, duly noted.”

It was a glorious finish – or glorious just to finish – in San Jose, but the 650-mile Tour of California, challenged to match its inaugural 2006 year’s attendance of 1.3 million total spectators, still had finish lines to cross in San Luis Obispo, Solvang, Santa Clarita and Long Beach before a new king could be crowned.

RACE NOTES: Among the spectators and volunteers were many members of the Almaden Cycle Touring Club, including South San Jose resident Bob Eltgroth, Political Action officer for the ACTC and an officer with the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, who was in charge of the bicycle parking lot at race headquarters. Among the more colorful comments on the Tour of California came from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after Stage 2 finished at the Capital Building on Feb. 20. “California is the most beautiful place in the world,” he said. ”The Tour de France can’t hold a candle to us.” For more information on the Tour of California, log on at www.amgentourofcalifornia.com.