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Interviews
Levi Leipheimer – “I was goin’ for a stage win…â€
Gerolsteiner was the only team with two riders in the 15-man break that would gain an advantage of eight minutes on the peloton. Levi Leipheimer was the best-placed on GC of the selection and his quest for a stage win saw him win the votes for the Most Aggressive Rider of the day. He moved up from 18th to 13th overall but missed out on the stage win he was chasing...
“I was hoping that there were going to be more than two of us when I attacked. It was a hard moment and a lot of riders didn’t look so good and there was still a bit of climbing ahead. I thought it would be a good chance to make a split. I went in a second and I was hoping more would come with me but they didn’t. At that point I thought, ‘Well, I’ll go for it’. At least my team-mate (Scholz) could stay behind and save himself a little. That worked pretty well because he was in the final break with the three riders.
“Obviously if I was thinking of the time trial I wouldn’t have been in the break today… I was just goin’ for a stage win.â€
Oscar Pereiro – “I have a difficult job tomorrow…â€
There was no change to the top 12 positions in the general classification in stage 18 but that’s destined to change in the time trial that follows. Oscar Pereiro knows that his yellow jersey is under threat but insists that he will give it all and hopefully have something to celebrate on the final Saturday of the race.
“Tomorrow is a difficult day for me if I want to win the Tour but I will go to my limit in the time trial. I start last and I have to try as hard as possible to minimize my losses to Carlos and Floyd. I know it’s going to be hard but there’s no point in being afraid.
“The time trial distance is too long to be ideal for me. I only have a lead of 12 seconds over Sastre but, for me, the biggest threat is Landis. The 30-second lead I have on him is very small but tomorrow I will go to the race and do all I can, it’s that simple.
“After breakfast, I’ll go and have a look at the first few kilometers of the course in the car and ride the last 30 on my bike. I want to see what the corners are like and how severe the climbs are. Then I’ll eat something, get some rest… and go to my limit! I have a difficult job but perhaps afterwards there’ll be something to celebrate.â€
Matteo Tosatto – “I can do things by myself too…â€
Matteo Tosatto spent the first week of the 2006 Tour de France trying to get his team leader Tom Boonen across the line first. That mission failed but the Italian Quickstep-Innergetic rider achieved the biggest coup of his career in Macon when he beat Cristian Moreni at the end of a long escape.
“This is the most important victory of my life. I’ve won nice races before but the Tour de France… it’s the measure of a cyclist’s career. It’s true that I’m usually cast in the role of a worker for a team leader but today I had the chance to do something for myself.
“In the final 250 meters I felt as though I was in control and believed I could overcome Moreni. I was more powerful in the end.
“I’m happy about how the day panned out because it was a good collaboration in the escape and it ended perfectly for me.â€
Patrick Lefevere (Quickstep-Innergetic, Manager) – “Don’t you think he’s fast…?â€
Patrick Lefevere isn’t prone to seeing things in a negative light. His Quickstep-Innergetic team had ambitions for the 2006 Tour de France with Tom Boonen and some things went according to plan. After Tosatto’s victory in Macon, the Belgian director is confident that there’s another victory waiting in Paris. He has ideas but is coy about suggesting who his team will be working for.
“It’s a great relief to claim a stage win today with Matteo. We had had a meeting in Dax on the first rest day to asses the team’s performance and we realized that we achieved something special: four days with the yellow jersey, the first time that this has happened to a Belgian for 20 years. But the Belgian public is very severe when you don’t succeed so we’ll have another meeting in Paris for a second assessment. Now we have achieved one victory but I believe it’s still possible to win again on the Champs-Elysees. I have a few ideas. Don’t you think he’s fast?â€
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Friday 21 July 2006 
