For Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health-Bissell), patience was truly a virtue on Thursday, as he jumped at just the right moment to pass a string of GC hopefuls and take the second stage of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Classic. He didn’t put enough time on Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), however, to keep him from slipping on the leader’s jersey when he came across the line just three seconds later.

Though much hotter than Wednesday’s stage, this stage shared important similarities that included a mountaintop finish, this time amid a lava field at the summit of McKenzie Pass outside of Bend. Additionally, Thursday’s top six riders were the same as Wednesday’s, though their order was different. Ricardo Escuela (SuccessfulLiving.com-ParkPre), Thursday’s leader, was third, closely followed by Jeff Louder (Health Net-Maxxis), Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance), and Chris Wherry (Toyota-United).

And perhaps the most significant similarity was that, once again, an early break stayed away for most of the day.

The 81-mile race was fast from the beginning, and by mile 7, Scott Zwizanski (Priority Health-Bissell) and Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance) were off in a break that maxed out at five-and-a-half minutes by mile 21. Chadwick, the New Zealand time-trial champ, said, “The main thing for me was to try and put the other teams under pressure so the GC guys could have an easy day until the climb. And I think that worked.”

With the break at mile 34, a race official’s voice came across the media car radio with a Ligget-like pronouncement: “The engine’s at the front [of the peloton], and the train is running.” It was SuccessfulLiving.com driving the train in order to protect Escuela’s GC lead.

“Successful Living rode at least 50K an hour all the way to the bottom of the climb,” Jacques-Maynes said. “I was pretty impressed. They were all business.”

With SuccessfulLiving.com ramping up the pace, Zwizanski and Chadwick’s gap shortened to one minute by mile 62. About that time, Zwizanski had to stop for a wheel change, leaving Chadwick alone. Three riders managed to bridge, one being teammate Matt Cooke, along with David Vitoria (BMC), and Ryan Trebon (Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada). Chadwick was only able to hang on for a few miles as they increased the gap to roughly one-and-a-half minutes; Cooke dropped off shortly after his teammate.

Oregonian and national cyclo-cross champion Trebon said that as he and Vitoria headed into the final climb, “Louder and another guy from BMC caught us. We were following their wheels, and I just clipped a rock and got a rear flat, and it took a while to change, and that’s why I went off.”

At this point, SuccessfulLiving.com, with the help of Toyota-United, was delivering the peloton to the bottom of the climb, and now the attacks were on.

Zajicek said he made “a really big attack at 2K to go,” making it across to Louder while the BMC guys dropped off. “So it was Louder and I alone with a K to go, and he wouldn’t ride. I had put in a really big effort to come up to him … but he wouldn’t help at all, and I was starting to come apart a little bit. I was giving it everything I had, but you know, we were still close enough that Baldwin and Jacques-Maynes crossed to us, and then Escuela caught me with 200 meters to go.”

No regrets on Zajicek’s part, though. “I’m glad I attacked, you know. It was good to lay it out there. It’s still really close, so tomorrow morning’s really gonna decide.”

Zajicek was referring to Friday morning’s stage-3 time trial, which could prove to be the decisive factor in the overall. With just 17 seconds separating the top four GC riders, all of whom can ride a good time trial, “there’s plenty of competition this week,” Jacques-Maynes said. “You have to be on top of your game just to hold position.”

Baldwin, a two-time national time-trial champ, while less than pleased with his racing against the clock this year, appeared to be cautiously optimistic.

“I thought yesterday things couldn’t have unfolded better tactically, politically, and what not. And I think it just happened again today. I think the force is with us this week.”

2007 Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic
Stage 2: Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race
1. Ben Jacques-Maynes, Priority Health-Bissell, 81 miles at 3:08:50
2. Chris Baldwin, Toyota-United, at 0:03
3. Ricardo Escuela, SuccessfulLiving.com, at 0:11
4. Jeff Louder, Health Net, at 0:14
5. Phil Zajicek, Navigators Insurance, same time
6. Chris Wherry, Toyota-United, s.t.
7. Scott Moninger, BMC, s.t.
8. Scott Nydam, BMC, at 0:27
9. Justin England, Toyota-United, at 0:30
10. Corey Collier, Team Einstein’s, same time

Overall
1. Baldwin, 173 miles in 6:47:27
2. Escuela, at 0:05
3. Jacques-Maynes, at 0:09
4. Zajicek, at 0:17
5. Louder, at 0:31
6. Wherry, same time
7. England, at 0:51
8. Moninger, at 0:52
9. Collier, at 0:59
10. Nydam, at 1:08