|
|
Interviews
Oscar Pereiro - "It’s possible to regain yellow..."
The world of cycling is indeed strange. One day a rider can appear in control, the next he is fighting to reach the finish. Oscar Pereiro believes the 2006 Tour de France is "a little crazy", but he doesn’t mind being one of the many stars.
“This race is a little crazy. Yesterday Floyd Landis was the strongest of all the riders and today he had a bad day and the same sort of thing could happen to anyone tomorrow. I’d like to finish the next stage in the yellow jersey and, after that, consolidate my position in the general classification. I think that’s a better way to approach this Tour.
“I didn’t start with such a good feeling but after the Galibier my legs were a little bit better. I spoke with one rider from the team and said, ‘Okay, let’s work hard on the descent because today I think it’s possible to regain the yellow jersey’.
“I think that a third day in the yellow jersey is a result of the work of the other riders on my team.
“It’s better to consider things on a day-by-day basis. Today was good but tomorrow is another day. There are other riders who have a little bit more left in their legs and I’m happy to enjoy what’s happened today.
“I came here to work for Alejandro and now I have the yellow jersey. It’s incredible!â€
Theo De Rooij, Rabobank (Mananager) - "The Tour de France has been extremely good for us..."
With four stage wins shared between three riders, the 2006 Tour de France has been a showcase of the talent on offer at the Rabobank team. The difficult decision for the team manager Theo de Rooij was choosing just who should be the team leader...
“The situation has changed in the last week but in the first period it was not very difficult to chosse a leader of our team. Menchov was giving a very strong impression and then, after yesterday’s stage, it was so difficult to establish that we had to attack because Rasmussen was very impressive in the last five kilometers of the stage to L’Alpe d’Huez.
“He had the freedom today to do his stage. The only assignment for Denis was to stay with Landis and… well, he didn’t stay with him all the way, luckily enough.
“Denis was complaining that he had problems with his throat yesterday. He felt good until a certain moment and he was eager to attack and open up the race but he paid for that afterwards. Ah, that’s racing…
“On the other hand we have a very nice victory with Rasmussen. He has the stage win and the mountains jersey so the Tour de France has been extremely good for us.â€
Mickael Rasmussen – “Today I got my freedom…â€
After helping to set up Denis Menchov’s victory in the hardest stage in the Pyrenees, Mickael Rasmussen got the freedom to ride for himself in the toughest day in the Alps. The rewards were plenty: a stage win and a strong lead in the climbing classification.
“I’ve enjoyed a few successes today but it happened a little later in the race than I would have liked. It’s been a long time to wait for me this year as I’ve been riding in the shadow of Menchov but after what happened yesterday we changed the tactics a little bit and today I got my freedom to do what I wanted… and I did just that.
“I haven’t counted the points on the road today and I don’t know what happened on the road behind me but I assume that I’m sitting with a comfortable lead in the climbing classification so it’s possible to keep the polka-dot jersey until the finish.
“I looked at the times that we did yesterday on the final climb to L’Alpe d’Huez and I felt really bad but I still did the fifth best time. Considering I was pedaling squares for the first five kilometers and I had to wait for Menchov for the last four, it was a pretty good performance after all. I was confident that I had a stage win in me this year.â€
|
|
|
Wednesday 19 July 2006 
