Voigt benefiting from Giro kilometres

By Shane Stokes in Caslano, Switzerland

Fränk Schleck's team-mate Jens Voigt was up to his usual tricks today, going clear early on in a break and putting the hurt on the other riders in the move. He said that he has come out of the Giro d'Italia strong, even if he doesn't have a zip in his legs at the start of each stage.

"I feel pretty good after the Giro," he told Cyclingnews. "Obviously after a big Tour you don't have this feeling that you are super fresh, you don't jump out of bed and go 'woohoo, I am so fresh today.' But once the race gets hard you feel it, you realise that you have done the Giro and now you can go again. You never really feel that fresh any more, but you have this 'go-power' after a big race like that."

He gave his reaction to the stage, and also to the unfortunate crash that saw Schleck lose out on the yellow jersey. "The day was hard, it was a very fast start. I made a group as planned. But I didn't ride at my best, I think I was really giving it a little bit more than I should have.

"That said, it is my job, that is what I am here for...to cover these kind of breaks. To go where it hurts. So I kept an eye on the boys, especially the two guys who were well-placed on GC; Caucchioli from Crédit Agricole and Tschopp from Bouygues Telecom. I kept them in my sights and basically waited for my leaders to come back. They did, they attacked and all looked great until it all turned to shit on the last descent."

All is not lost for CSC, however. Schleck's younger brother Andy will start stage six eighth overall, 40 seconds behind race leader Igor Antón. Voigt said that the team will now back him. "I guess Andy is now our next-best chance," he stated. "He is the white knight from the [2007] Giro, so I don't think it looks too bad for him either."