Erik Zabel - "I'm not the fastest... but I'm still here"

“It’s fantastic to be back in the green jersey. The last time I won it was in 2001 and the last time I wore it was in 2002 so, for me, it’s a long time ago but it fits well. Normally I would have come to this Tour to lead out the sprints for Alessandro Petacchi. Unfortunately he’s not here so my role changed and maybe that’s the reason that I got to stand on the podium today. Last Wednesday my team manager told me, ‘Okay, now you have to sprint.’ I had just two days to think about this but I’m pleased to be able to get a reward. _ “I know that I’m not the fastest anymore but I’m still there and I have a lot of fun in the peloton so that the most important thing for me. _ “I’m happy to wear the green jersey for another day. I’ll think about it from day to day: Paris is so far away in my mind so I’m only thinking about tomorrow. The usual rivals are (Robbie) McEwen, (Tom) Boonen, (Oscar) Freire… but now also Pozzato. All the guys are there so I think this year it’s a little bit different because there’s no absolute favorite in the sprints: everybody can beat everybody so the interest in the points classification remains high.”