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Interviews
Tom Boonen - "I Made It To The Finish Just In Time..."
Not even a flat tyre five kilometers before the end of the stage could stop Tom Boonen from finishing fourth in Valkenburg and pushing his way into the lead of the general classification.
“Today I had a puncture with five kilometers to go so I rode the final with only a little bit of pressure in my front tyre. I had to stay in the saddle and just hope that I could make it to the finish line. It was stressful.
“I crossed the finish line and I had to wait to see how the seconds were for the next group before I knew if I would get the yellow jersey.
“The rainbow jersey is the most beautiful one but this is what I came here for. Now everything is going okay and even though I almost stopped in the last few kilometers because of my flat tyre I made it to the finish just in time.
“If people doubt me because I missed out on winning the first two stages, they have to doubt a lot of other riders too. But if you win 17 races in the year and you lose the first two stage of the Tour, I can understand why some began to doubt me.
“The Cauberg is my kind of terrain. I’m sure if I had pressure in my front tyre, I would have been in the break with Philippe Gilbert and Matthias Kessler. The problem was that I couldn’t ride the way I wanted. I took a guess and I knew Kessler wasn’t a risk for the yellow jersey. I guessed that Boogerd would go and he took off with one kilometer to go and I just sped it up a little and hoped some other riders would come; then Ballan went and I just stayed in the saddle and I hoped to arrive at the finish line but I like this terrain."
Matthias Kessler - "It’s important not to waste good form"
After missing out on a win after a bold move in the closing kilometers of stage two, Matthias Kessler didn’t sulk about his loss. Instead he took the initiative again today. A sensational attack on the Cauberg climb that sapped the strength of many in the peloton proved to be a winning move.
“The course today was very difficult and it was made even more hard because of incidents during the race. I was caught up in a big crash in the peloton and I think that Andreas Kloden was also involved. But the stage ended really well for a team without a captain.
“I arrived at the Tour with 100 per cent motivation but then circumstances changed a little bit but we’ve been able to adapt. The approach now is to try and win stages and that’s why I’ve been aggressive early in the race. It’s important not to waste good form and to ensure that we give something back to the sponsors and the fans. We’ve just got to continue having a positive outlook and we hope that, in the next few days, we can continue with the momentum we’ve built here today.â€
Arrieta – “I had to try everything..."
The Spanish rider at the AG2R Preyovance team was determined to be in The Escape of stage three. He seized his chance, made the move early and attacked again with a fine solo bid in the closing kilometers. This approach helped earn him the reward of the Most Aggressive Rider.
“It was most definitely a difficult day but I had the benefit of being involved in a good group of riders. Everyone was prepared to share the workload in the escape and that’s one of the reasons that we managed to gain so much time: it was a good collaboration. The peloton kept close watch on us and they maintained a steady tempo and although we were really moving well at the front there was no way that we could push our advantage to much more than five minutes.
“When I attacked the rest of the group I knew I had to give it everything. The result might have been different had the finish not come after the Cauberg climb, but that’s part of cycling. The end was the end and there’s nothing I could do about it to change what happened.â€
Jerome Pineau – “I didn’t do all that work for nothing…â€
After escaping and riding in the lead group for most of the day, Jerome Pineau had one main objective to contest the race for climbing points. At the end of the day he’s earned the reward of the polka-dot jersey.
“It was no surprise that our escape group worked so well even if we didn’t reach the finish. If we look at the composition of our group, it was all quality. With Jens Voigt and Jose Luis Arrieta also there, we had a lot of strength and experience. With Etxebarria also there, I knew that we had a good chance to succeed.
“For me, the objective was to try and claim the polka-dot jersey and it worked out well. I knew that it’s difficult to get a result in this sort of stage but now that I have the jersey on my shoulders I know that I didn’t do all that work for nothing.â€
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Tuesday 4 July 2006 
