By John Trevorrow in Karlsruhe
Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto)
Are you happy? "What do you think! It was up to us to again today to take the initiative. I really thought that there would be a breakaway today. So I thought that I would make a few breaks of my own because you never know. I got in that break and thought that I would just see what would happen.
The whole team was incredible today. They were all over the place. I followed Freddie. Then the gap opened up to the right and I managed to squeeze in between Baden and the barrier . It was a bit early, but no one was going to beat me today.
You looked a long way aback coming into the last kilometre? "It was a strange sprint. It started really early, about seven kilometres out, so I said to the boys just hang back. It was like a big knob of riders in front. Freddy kept bringing me up, bringing me up and I followed anyway. I managed to dodge the riders coming back at 100 km/h. But they weren't easy to get by. And luckily the gap opened right on cue."
In these really rough finishes with the lead outs aren't so involved, you seem to be the fastest? "I don't know about that but I seem to excel in those type of conditions. But anyone can get boxed in and there's nothing you can really do."
Why did you end up breaking away with Wegmann? "Our Team decided before the start, that whatever breaks got away today we would go with them. A few had gone and been caught and after the first sprint, when Wegmann jumped away I joined him. Soon we were a minute up the road and I was thinking ‘what the hell am I doing here?'. So I said to him 'doesn't look like anyone else is coming' and he said that he wanted to keep going because he could get the extra points to get the polka dot jersey. So I gave him a push and dropped back to the peloton.
"Then just for a laugh, I hid behind a bush before I was caught and then jumped out and got on the back of the bunch.
The Press room broke into laughter and Robbie leaned forward and said to me, 'Iffy, you must have done that at a club race some time?' I suppose a lot of people have, but not in the Tour de France.
