Robbie McEwen - "It was perfection..."

“It went really smoothly in the last couple of kilometers. Geert Steegmans was really focused today. I think he was so motivated to make up for his mistake yesterday. He felt really bad about the end of stage five. He said he wanted to ride into the asphalt and just disappear, he felt that bad about it. Those were his words… _ “Today he’s made up for it with the perfect lead-out. _ “I told him to wait until the 400 meter to go mark and he did exactly that; he didn’t go one millimeter before 400… and when he took off he was going that fast that nobody else could follow. I felt I could just back off a little and go on the inside and it was perfection! _ “I wasn’t anxious to see any daylight ahead of me until the time was exactly right. We stayed relaxed and waited for the others to shoot their bolt and our team’s tactics worked perfectly. _ “I sat with Geert on the bus after yesterday’s stage – just the two of us – and we had a good chat. I told him that after one good performance, he couldn’t let it go to his head and lose concentration and think he can do anything. He started studying the book immediately for today and he did a fantastic job. The guy has got a massive engine and it’s like I’m sitting on my own personal TGV and I’ve just got to get off at my stop and that’s the finish line. _ “It’s hard to tell how my form is. Sometimes I don’t feel that great out on the road but I win stages. I don’t care if I’m getting dropped out on the road so long as I win at the end.”