Aitor González (Euskaltel) pedaled his way back into the spotlight with an amazing individual time trial against a speeding quintet of chasers in yesterday's final stage of the 2005 Tour de Suisse 2005. In one strong effort, González took away the winning seconds from Michael Rogers (Quick.Step), who was leading the chase, but could do nothing to fight off González' assault on the yellow jersey.
"I was convinced that I would win," González said about his successful move. "I was visualising it and on the day before, I tried already. I was in top form and felt very good, although I didn't meet my objective of taking the Yellow jersey," the Basque said about the penultimate stage where he moved up in GC by more than one minute.
"I don't usually like attacking further away from the finish," he continued, "but in this instance I had no alternative; I had to take maximum risk. Fortunately, it all turned out well for me despite the fact that they were very well organized in the chase. The worst thing that could have happened was to crash in one of those curves."
González' riding yesterday was similarly strong as in 2002, where he won two stages of the Giro d'Italia and three stages as well as the overall classification of the Vuelta a España. "It's a very important victory in my career, even more so after these more unfortunate last years [2003 and 2004 with Fassa Bortolo - ed.]. I'm on top again now, just like at the Vuelta a España in 2002."
Nevertheless, González may not ride the Tour de France this year, he conveyed. Euskaltel-Euskadi's Tour roster has not yet been announced.
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