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Interviews
Robbie McEwen - "The others should be disappointed..."
Although the stage honors went to a rider from an escape group for the first time, Robbie McEwen ended Phaze One of the 2006 Tour de France by leading home the peloton for fourth place. He increased his lead on the other sprinters in the race for the green jersey and is content with the work he’s done so far in this year’s Tour. Now there’s a day of rest to savour before his team focuses on its other objective: helping Cadel Evans in the race for a high finish in the general classification.
“Our team had a rider in the move and there was no way we were going to chase. If our team doesn’t chase breakaways, they don’t seem to get caught. It was unfortunate that our guy – Mario Aerts –wasn’t in the front when it split up but we had a rider involved in every attack today. We didn’t have to put the team on the front and I was content to sprint for the points that were left over at the end.
“It was actually a pretty hard day. It was windy – there was always a crosswind – and lots of little Bretagne hills but at the end of the day it’s worked out great. I was able to come out of the wheels of the other sprinters in the last 100 meters and take the maximum points that were left and extend my lead in the green jersey classification.
“I’ve been really looking forward to the rest day but it’s been a good first week.
“I’ve won three stages so the others should be disappointed. The thing for me to do now is to try and win more stages but we’ve got to save some guys in because I think my team-mate Cadel Evans is going to be right up there in the general classification so we’ll try to save everybody from now on.â€
Sylvain Calzati - "It’s time to attack!"
For the first time in the 93rd Tour de France a rider won a stage on his own. Sylvain Calzati joined a group of six riders who attacked at the 47km mark and built an advantage of over seven minutes. With 32km to go, the pack was closing in rapidly so the rider who turned 27 on the first day of the 2006 race attacked with all his might and held on to give France its second stage win this year.
“I still can’t believe what’s going on but it’s fantastic to win a stage of the Tour de France. Especially because at the beginning of the year, I had a lot of problems and I was having a hard time. Then, slowly but surely I started feeling better. Just after the Giro I had the same sensations that I had during the 2004 season; all that was very reassuring.
“This morning I told myself that there was a chance to try something. I started getting confident when I saw that we had a lead of over seven minutes. But when the peloton came back to two minutes 20 seconds, I started having doubts so I said to myself, ‘It’s time to attack!’
“I didn’t know if I was able to manage a solo effort for 30km but it worked out.
“I went through all the possible emotions. I thought of all the different scenarios and then, with 10km to go, I knew it would work out.
“I’ve often been asked the question of who I will support in the football World Cup final and I know I’ll disappoint a lot of people but tonight I’ll cheer for Italy.
“Now that the team has a stage win, I have the intention of giving everything for our leader Christophe Moreau hoping that he will conquer the yellow jersey.â€
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Sunday 9 July 2006 
