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| TdF Rider Comments after Stage 5 |
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| By Peter Cossins |
| Date: 7/11/2002 |
| TdF Rider Comments after Stage 5 |
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Tom Steels
"I felt OK yesterday, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I
really don’t know what the problem was on the first few days, but I don’t
think it was the same [glandular] problems that were affecting me before.
I don’t really know what it was, but hopefully it’s behind me."
Fred Rodriguez
"I’m feeling better and better each day," said the Domo rider. "I had a bad
crash on stage 1 and I’ve been having hamstring problems. But the muscle
pain is easing more and more, and for the first time in the race I’m beginning
to feel comfortable climbing."
Looking ahead to the stage from Soissons to Rouen, Rodriguez predicted plenty
of breaks and didn’t count out being in one of them himself. "There’s a
small chance I’ll join one because I don’t like going on breaks at all. We’ve
got other riders in the team who are more motivated to go on breaks. I’d
prefer to hang on for the finish and just give it everything then. Once I
find my legs I’ll definitely be pushing for it."
Rodriguez says that his current contract with Domo runs out at the end of
this season, but he’s hoping he’ll be offered something with the new team.
"I’m very happy with my teammates and the directors at Domo, and it would
be good to stay with them. But if I don’t stay I know other teams will be
interested in me. Because of the situation with Mapei going, Lotto and Domo
merging and perhaps a couple of other teams merging, everyone is still waiting
to see how things pan out."
Stuart O’Grady
"We went well as a team yesterday, the course didn’t really suit us with
the big hill in it, we prefer flat, fast courses, but we were only 30 seconds
outside sixth place, which is about what we were expecting on that kind
of course. I feel pretty good myself, the nervous energy you start the race
with is going and you start to feel the fatigue. I’m suffering a little
bit but I’m still going to go for the green jersey and I’m just going to
have to get myself up there. Hopefully all the worries are behind now, both
for me personally and for the team because we’ve had a lot of bad luck."
Tyler Hamiton
"It was bad luck because it was a great ride, and we need to focus on that
aspect of it. With luck we could have won and got yellow, but we have to
put that behind us. Jalabert knows how things go at the Tour, it could have
been beautiful. We think that if things had gone well we’d have got about
a minute back. Today some riders are obviously going to get into breaks
and we don’t think ONCE will try to control the race. But they might go
for a change of yellow jersey by putting one of their riders into a break.
Whatever happens our confidence has increased a lot after our performance
yesterday."
Jaan Kirsipuu
"Last year there was a lot of pressure because the whole team were working
for me, and I only won at what was probably my last opportunity. This year
the pressure is still there. The trouble is that I’m not at the same level
as the other sprinters, I don’t have the explosiveness I need to win."
Will he now make a push for the points jersey? "I haven’t been thinking about
that at all but I might think again now. It all depends on how I recover
tomorrow because I’m not used to that kind of effort. I’m aiming to get
to Paris, and I think I can get through the Pyrenees. But there are four
tough days in the Alps after that. I will go as far as possible."
Fuller versions of these interviews appear on the ProCycling website at
www.procycling.com. |
Copyright © 2002-2011
by Daily Peloton.
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