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Jacques-Maynes and Powers win opening time trial at the Joe Martin Stage Race, the next stop on the NRC

By Ian Dille
Published: May. 8, 2009
2009 Joe Martin Stage Race: Stage 1 winner Ben Jacques-Maynes.
2009 Joe Martin Stage Race: Stage 1 winner Ben Jacques-Maynes.
Photo: Lindsay McAllister

In 2007, when Team Bissell’s Ben Jacques-Maynes raced to a fifth place finish at the Joe Martin Stage Race’s uphill, 2 1/2-mile time trial, he said time trial bikes were the norm.

“This year I show up and everyone’s on road bikes with light wheels,” Jacques-Maynes said. “I know my time trial bike is light and I can get it up a hill just fine. There’s a half mile of flat road before the climb starts, and being in your time trial position for that section can be the one-second between winning and losing.”

This year, once the climb tipped upward Jacques-Maynes grabbed the cow horns and muscled his Pinarello to the top of the of 6.8 percent average gradient climb. Across the finish line Jacques-Maynes set a course record of 8:03, besting second place Rory Sutherland, who won the last two editions of this race, by just over a second.

The tight finish between two of America’s top domestic squads will undoubtedly make for an exciting three days of racing here in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“Obviously you always like to have the lead. Then you don’t have to play catch up,” said Sutherland. “There’s pretty significant time bonuses on every stage, so you can go back as far as ten deep in the general classification right now and there’s still guys within striking distance.”

Sutherland, an adept field sprinter and the reigning National Racing Calendar mens champion, has secured his lead on the overall in previous years by snagging time bonuses in the race’s technical bunch sprints. With four riders situated in the top ten — including Jeremy Vennell, Tom Zirbel, and Morgan Schmitt — Jacques-Maynes said Bissell will have a lot of cards to play. In the field sprints, Jacques-Maynes said Bissell will rely on team sprinters Frank Pipp and Kirk Obee to cancel out the time bonuses.

The men’s Pro-1 race continues Friday with a 110-mile road race featuring the decisive climb up Mount Gaylor, which typically narrows the field to a select group of 30 to 50 riders.

Alison Powers to the win

In the women’s race Team Type 1’s Alison Powers followed her runner-up performance at last week’s Tour of the Gila by winning the time trial in 9:37. In defending her lead Powers will have to contend with a duo of Webcor Builders riders, Katheryn Curi Mattis and Erinne Willock, sitting three and 18 seconds back, respectively.

Willock won the Joe Martin Stage Race in 2006.

Both teams contain formidable field sprinters, with Team Type 1 bringing Jen McRae, who recently placed third at the Athens Twilight criterium, and Webcor Builders boasting Gina Grain. However, Team Tibco’s Brooke Miller and Laura Van Gilder, “the powder puff of the Poconos,” of Mellow Mushroom, will also be looking to take stage wins.

The women will race a 64-mile point-to-point road race today, featuring the climb up Mount Gaylor, and finishing on historic Dickson Street in downtown Fayetteville.