Pierrick Fedrigo took Bouygues Telecom's first Tour de France stage win today in Gap. The 2005 French champion outsprinted former Italian champion Salvatore Commesso in a classic two-man duel, with the peloton hot on their heels. But Fedrigo was definitely not thinking about the France-Italy world cup final when he crossed the line, as Brecht Decaluwé reports.
Q: Winning a stage in the Tour de France must bring on lots of emotions. Not only for you but also for the team, as this is the team's first victory in this Tour de France.
PF: Of course this is a great moment for me. The team will be happy as well, of course. Our goal was to win a stage in this Tour de France, as we don't have a GC rider in the team. That's why we're trying to get into the breakaway groups, with the success of today as a result.
Q: This stage looked like it was designed just for Pierrick Fedrigo, did you realize before the start that you could win today?
PF: At the start, I didn't think that I could win the stage. The first hour is always very hard, also today it was a very fast start. I could get away in one of the counterattacks and fortunately for us, we could make it to the finish.
