I caught up with the BMC team at the start of the 2008 Tour of Missouri stage 5, in St James where the riders were getting ready for another aggressive stage in high humidity. Mike Sayers announced his retirement earlier this year, and is racing his last big race at the Tour of Missouri. Going into the day, Jeff Louder was sitting in tenth place in the overall classification and had been very aggressive in the previous day’s break. Darren Lill had a great time trial result finishing in seventh place but missed the move on stage 4, and is now back to hunting for stage wins and assisting his teammate in moving up the GC. Finally, Jonathan Garcia is hitting his form after suffering two hard crashes this year.

This is your last big race, this is it. How does it feel?
Mike: Yes, this is it. I get mixed feelings, the team, I think they finalized the roster this week, and they are doing a press release, I feel a little bit left out honestly but it’s part of it. Especially after a day like yesterday where I suffered a little bit and those are the days I’m not really going to miss. I think as we get closer to Sunday, it’s going to be a little more difficult. The only good thing is that Ive known it’s coming and I can prepare myself for it, just going to give the last couple of days everything I got. The team is riding really well which is awesome, that’s one thing I’m really proud of, how far the team has come, how far the team is going. It’s just kind of the natural evolution of things.

The BMC team seems to have brought it up a level in the last few months, what brought this on?
Mike: I just think it was the progression, I just think it took us some time to get guys organized and get some experience in the bank, again I think we’ve reached that point, obviously the leadership from Gavin[Chilcott] and John [Lelangue] has made a big difference, they were always pushing guys to be aggressive and I think it does help you get a little more cohesive. I think it’s just a combination of things, I just think it’s generally the natural maturity of how things are going. And you bring in some more experienced riders like Tony [Cruz] and Jeff [Louder], they make a big difference, it’s not just me telling guys what to do, those guys are talented enough to kind of lead by example, it’s been really nice and a really nice team to finish up with, that’s one of the great things, I get to leave on one of the best teams and just kind of be proud of that whole thing.

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With the roads still wet for the 1.7 mile course through the downtown streets of Portland, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) blitzed the 2008 Mt Hood prologue producing an average speed of 37 mi/h (59 km/h). Third from last rider to leave the start gate for the in an out and back course, Jacques-Maynes crossed the line with a time of 2:45, 3 seconds faster than second place finisher Jonathan Garcia (BMC), and third place World B Champion Ivan Stevic (Toyota-United).

“I found the biggest gear I could and muscled it all the way into the line. I think these shorter things just suit me, three minutes of racing does not a week long stage race make, it’s a good way to start it and I’ve got good form, hopefully the week is going to go well. Looking forwards to the Friday time trial.” said Jacques-Maynes.

Ben Jacques-Maynes speeds down the course, photo c. Lyne Lamoureux

The Bissell team is ready to defend the jersey. Last year, Jacques-Maynes grabbed the leaders’ jersey on the second stage, and held on to it until the time trial. He ultimately finished third on the overall classification.

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