Tour of California: New team, new outlook for Ben Jacques-Maynes

By Julie Jag
Sentinel staff writer

Like a man offering up one of his prized possessions on eBay to see how much it would fetch, Ben Jacques-Maynes put out the word.

For lease: One professional cyclist. 28. Successful knee injury survivor. Placed 24th overall among some heavy hitters and within the top three domestic riders at 2006 Tour of California. Adequate pay required.

Jacques-Maynes, a former UC Santa Cruz rider who lives in San Jose, didn't know what kind of response his query would fetch. Maybe he wouldn't get any response at all. That idea — that his cycling career could be over — made his stomach churn. Still, he had a family now, including a newborn son, and he wasn't getting any younger. He couldn't keep getting paid in bicycle parts and burritos.

"If no one showed up, I was prepared to give it up," Jacques-Maynes said. "If it was time to go, it was time to go. It definitely wasn't time to go."

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