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Interviews
Floyd Landis – “My job was to follow Kloden…”
He was pleased with the fact that another team had the responsibility to protect the yellow jersey, but Floyd Landis is back in the overall lead of the Tour de France. He did his job - which was to mark his major rivals - claimed fourth in the stage and is happy with his work.
“We wanted to be conservative in this stage because we don’t want to control the race the entire time. I think we made a wise decision the other day to allow Pereiro to take the leader’s jersey. It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t hang onto it today because he fought hard and I wouldn’t mind if he kept it for another day. It did work in our favor for them (Caisse d’Epargne) to lead for a few days.
“Our tactics on the final climb were to be conservative. Again it worked in my favor that Kloden was so strong today; he did most of the work and I wouldn’t mind having helped him but that wouldn’t have served any real purpose for me.
“I’m not sure if I would gamble on surrendering the jersey again. It depends on the circumstances. I’m confident in my time trial ability so if something arises that could work in my favor I wouldn’t mind gambling again but I’d have to be careful.
“It was a big breakaway and I would have preferred not to have let it go. It was a risk but we couldn’t chase everything all day.
“My job was to follow Kloden and it just happens that I have the yellow jersey but Caisse d’Epargne can be proud. It’s now in my interest to follow my rivals and keep the time gaps that I have now and then plan for the time trial."
Frank Schleck - "If you feel good, you’re not going to win..."
The CSC team was able to slot three riders into the main escape of the 15th stage. Frank Schleck received support from both Dave Zabriskie and Jens Voigt all the way to the base of the final climb. Once there, the rider from Luxembourg had the power to match the attacks from Damiano Cunego and then sprint ahead in the final kilometers to claim a stunning stage victory.
“I never feel good in a race. It always hurts. If you feel good, you’re not going to win… that’s something I’ve learned in the last few years. I wasn’t meant to go in the breakaway this morning but I just found myself there and now I’m a stage winner of the Tour de France thanks largely to my team-mates who supported me 100 per cent today.
“Jens and David did an amazing job for me today. It was great and the without those two guys I could never have made it.
“It’s amazing to win at L’Alpe d’Huez. I didn’t believe it until I crossed the line. It’s a great moment but I need a little bit of time to realize what I’ve done today.
“We went pretty fast right at the bottom of the final climb and it just so happened that I was good and at the top I could still find the strength to drop Cunego.”
Bjarne Riis (manager, Team CSC) - "The possibility is always there..."
Bjarne Riis knows that having three riders in an escape is not a matter of luck, rather it’s about being attentive and active when it matters most...
“Frank is a very good rider and he did a very good race for our team. I had a feeling that he could have won when he got into the break. When you arrive at the final climb with a lead of over three minutes, the possibility is always there. He was strong and he had good legs so I’m pleased that he was also tactically clever.
“There were many key moments in the stage but the fact that we were awake when the break went was really important. We had three guys there, including Frank who we knew was in good form. Another key moment could have been on the Col du Lautaret, on the last five kilometers of that climb when Jens and Dave kept the speed really high… it was important that we kept a good advantage for the escape.”
John Lelangue (Manager, Phonak) – “We didn’t want to kill the race…”
Phonak is back in charge of the general classification thanks to Floyd Landis’ fourth place in the stage to L’Alpe d’Huez. It wasn’t quite the plan but the team manager isn’t unhappy…
“It turns out that the decision to surrender the yellow jersey a few days ago was a good idea. I believe that we proved today that we have a strong team. Axel (Merckx) slotted into place in the major escape and then we had four riders with Floyd at the base of the climb to L’Alpe d’Huez. This allowed us to breathe a little bit and when Axel dropped back to help Floyd it was perfect timing because Menchov was fighting his way back…
“We didn’t want to kill the race because we didn’t want to kill ourselves. We could have made a big effort to really increase our advantage but it may have made things difficult for tomorrow’s crucial stage.
“Of course Floyd would like to win a stage but the escapees were too far ahead to consider that today and we opted not to take any risks.”
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Tuesday 18 July 2006 
