Linus Gerdemann from T-Mobile is riding his first Tour de France, and he now got to experience one of the more bizarre tactics in recent years. "This was very tactical and the two guys tried something new. They started out relatively easy to see what the field was doing," the Tour de France newcomer observed. "So both sides said to themselves we only fast when you ride fast."
The tactic almost worked but Gerdemann pointed out that the sprinters's teams got it all together in the end. For him personally the day was quiet again, he wrote on his Tour diary for radsport-aktiv.de
The hardest part was getting up as the doping control personal came by for an unannounced test at 7:15. They gave us 20 minutes to arrive at the scene. "Then we had breakfast earlier than planned. Without the control the wake-up call would have come around 8:00." The German talent also made use of the little perks as a rider of the Tour de France and went to the Tour village, to "have a look around, drink a coffee and chat to other riders."
Gerdemann revealed that this year the team has a relaxation pool with them for the first time. "To be precise there are actually two pools, made out of plastic. One is filled with warm water and one with cold. After the stage we sit in it to relax the muscles." Gerdemann pointed out that this helps regeneration.
