The truth lies - if not in wine, then in the first Kazakh winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Alexandre Vinokourov, who scored his team's first victory this season and finally took the pressure off the entire T-Mobile squad. Although 'Vino' is not a man of great words or exuberant emotions, one could tell that he was still touched by this achievement as he received his award on the podium in Ans, close to Liège, on Sunday.
"I wasn't sure about winning until I reached the finish line," Vinokourov said after his victory asked by Cyclingnews. "I was thinking that we might get our chance if we still had one minute in Saint Nicolas [the penultimate climb before Ans, where he and Voigt led by 1'13 at the bottom - ed.]. Then, I thought it was feasible."
Asked about his co-leader, Jens Voigt, who was also very strong, Vino replied, "Yes, of course I feared him. I tried to drop him on the Saint Nicolas climb, but he wouldn't let go of my wheel. Then, my directeur sportif told me to wait for the sprint, so I did, and then gave everything I had. And I succeeded, so I'm happy."
