2006 Tour of Britain (UCI 2.1)

 

Stage 2, Blackpool to Liverpool
Wednesday, 30th August | www.tourofbritain.com
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TOUR EXTRA - STAGE 2 INTERVIEWS

 

Roger Hammond:

"This year it was completely different feeling to win. Last year there were a lot of emotions involved as we had already given the race away in the first stage. Last year there was a lot of pressure and relief at winning whereas this year I didn't even think of winning until the last 400 metres, so you don't have much time to think about and it hasn't really sunk in yet."

"The GB team guys put in a mega performance. Yesterday, even though we weren't riding for a win, we tried to get organised because we hadn't really ridden together and today, I was surprised. To be honest, I didn't have as much faith in them as I should have and I thought once Quickstep started riding for Tom Bonnen, perhaps I wouldn't see too many of our guys. But if you look the TV coverage, you'll see our guys were up there until 700 metres to go. When you think they're only 18 or 19 years old, it was a cracking performance."

"They delivered me with 400 metres to go on Bonnen's wheel, and I can't ask for more than that. I haven't been given that kind of service for the last few years so it was good. I had a fairly good run in, and then Geraint did his last turn with Pozzato on his wheel and then Boonen and then myself. Pozzato took over from Geraint until the last corner and I think their plan was that Pozzato would swing out on the last corner, to let Boonen open out from the corner. But as he swung right, Boonen was still overlapped on his wheel so he took Boonen with him. He took him right across to the other side of the road and just dived down the inside and four or five bike lengths on him. I think he'll have his eye on tomorrow instead now."

"Today was a lot different to yesterday. You could see straight away there were guys ready to go to the front to ride. Once CSC and Quickstep were on the front, and Quickstep were riding for one reason and that was to make sure it was a bunch sprint. With a team that strong, you can rely on them to bring them back. The break rode well as they held the gap at five minutes for a long time but with that wind and a flat run in I expected it to come back."

"We (GB) went to the front with around 4k to go. Quickstep tried to come past them and then they swung back in, and I think that gave a bit of morale to the lads."

Matt Goss (new race leader):

"I'm stoked to have the jersey today. It played out perfectly. I thought CSC might have let one more guy go down the road to take all the bonuses on the road but they let one second at each intermediate sprint and I was lucky enough to pick up all of them."

"I have led a couple of tours this year but only on the first day. This is certainly the biggest Tour I have led and it's certainly going to be a tough ask to hold onto it. We had a couple of guys on the front today but we'll see how it goes tomorrow. We're only young and it will hard to stay on the front all day so we'll see how it pans out."

"Tomorrow's going to be hard, but racing in Italy you don't do races without a hill in them and that has helped my climbing a lot."

GB Manager Rod Ellingworth:

A smiling Rod Ellingworth started our chat by explaining that the day before, three of his boys had been given the job of helping Roger Hammond at the finish of stage 1. This was why they finished off the back of the main group, their job having been done. "Next week we have a stage race at under 23 level and it could be for a race win. We did it mainly for Ross's benefit because he hasn't had a lot of experience being involved in a lead-out. They went flat out for 5K and after doing that they weren't going to hold the bunch but they did their jobs well."

Stage 2 saw the GB boys repeating their lead-out for Roger Hammond, with spectacular results. Rod said "I was dead excited to be honest with it today. You couldn't ask for any more than that could you? Roger did a good job with the guys and it's good to have somebody there with them with his experience. You ask those guys to do something and they'll do it and all of them did something at the end which for me, was the big success. We have been working on getting to that point at the end and then doing the job, the lead-out."

"I think a lot of people just think about the final bit but you have got to get there. So how do you get there in a good state - that's what we've been working on. At 60k to go, I knew what I wanted to do, and 50k to go I spoke to Roger, and we talked. I said to him I'd always talk to him first because I'd be silly not to use him. After that, we had one plan, which is what I always do, keep it simple. They [the young GB riders] will be happy with that. They did their job and you can't ask for more than that."

"I just hope people see that we are very competitive. Ben is still only 18 and Ross was 19 last week, four first year seniors mixing it with World champions on the road which is different to mixing it on the track!"

Recycling's Chris Newton:

Chris lost several minutes on stage 1, but there was a story behind it - namely he was involved in a crash late in the stage: "I'm bearing up! I just caught my finger in someone's wheel and although there isn't a lot of damage, what I have is really annoying. I got a few scuffs on my knee and backside as well. I'm just getting a bit peeved with crashing. There was mud everywhere about 5k out and the guy in front of me I think touched his brakes and went down and I had no where to go except into him."

Recycling's Ben Greenwood:

Talking before stage 2, Ben predicted his game attacks in the hills: "yesterday was pretty boring. It was really slow after there was just that one attack. It never really got going all day, even the last climb, so it was a pretty easy day in the bunch. Hopefully today it will light up on the climbs and although it could still be a bunch sprint because they come so early in the race, I'm hoping for some action on the climbs and I'll be in there I hope. I'm looking forward to causing them a bit of trouble."

GB's Geraint Thomas:

Also talking before stage 2, Geraint said: "no-one was expecting three men to get away and when they did, everyone was looking to Quickstep or T-Mobile to do something. It [the gap to the three leaders] did comedown pretty quickly at the end when they started to race and for me personally, they started a bit slowly. I'm just getting into it after all the travelling and I felt good after the last climb when they started to race."

"Today we're just going to get stuck in. All of us were disappointed with what happened yesterday so we'll be going out to prove ourselves when everyone should be up for racing."

GB's Ben Swift

"It was quite good yesterday (Stage 1) being in the mix on home ground. Being at the front felt really good. To start off, our role was to just stick in there and my form hasn't been that good lately. Then we started to feel quite good and all used our experience from Italy for the bunch lead-out."

"I took them up to 1k to go and just peeled off and try and recover after a 100 per cent effort. Afterward you're on you're knees for 500 metres. Before the sprint, we were also flat out up the climb. We went as fast up there as we were going on the flat. I looked down and we were doing 45 k an hour up this long climb. I couldn't believe it. But having the time in Italy has helped us in that area. This race is a step up and is totally different to racing in Italy because we have all the Pro Tour teams here. So far I'm happy with it."

T-Mobile's Mark Cavendish:

Wednesday morning interview with the British T-Mobile rider talking about stage 1 and his recent illness: "I felt really bad yesterday and it was bit half-hearted. I seemed to be up there on the last corner so I thought I might as well sprint the last few hundred metres. I think if I'd been up for it, I'd have won the sprint. I feel a bit better today and coughing stuff up from my illness. So we'll see how it goes."

DFL's Russell Downing:

Russ talked about his sprint on stage 1. "I got into a good position with 800 to go and then I got a bit swamped into the last corner so I had to make a big effort from the bottom corner and it was me and Pozzatto going for the bunch win when Chicchi just got over us. So I was quite happy to get third in that company."

On his placing on stage 2, he started by saying "I've been consistent most days so far and that is what I came here to do and hopefully get up there tomorrow in my home town where it's a similar sort of finish. It's thanks to Matt that I have this jersey."

"All the riders today went right and I took a chance on taking an inside line and low centre of gravity got me round the corner. I was third out of the thing and that was the way it stayed. I'm pleased with my form though. I've just won a 1.1 in Belgium which was really good for me and the team so I was hoping I'd be in good form a week later. This race is what the season has been based around really. It was good ride by Roger."