By Shane Stokes in Nauders
CSC is at the Tour de Suisse with what is likely to be a large chunk of their Tour de France team. They have big guns such as Fränk Schleck, Carlos Sastre, race leader Fabian Cancellara and perennial attacker Jens Voigt. Cyclingnews asked the tall German if Schleck would be the team's GC rider for the Swiss race.
"That is top secret information. If I tell you, I need to shoot you!" he joked. "But obviously he looks pretty good, he looks smooth on the bike, he looks ready. So it wouldn't be surprising if he is in a good place in the general classification [at the end]."
He said that he is very happy with how things have gone so far, given that Cancellara won the prologue, finished third on stage two and carries the yellow jersey into day four of the race. Personally, he feels that he is a little way off his top fitness, but says he will use the Tour de Suisse to rectify that.
"I am still missing bits and pieces of form. I think I am ready to do some hard miles working on the front and suffering in the mountains here, in order to get ready for the Tour de France."
Some teams sent their best riders to the Dauphiné Libéré, while CSC and T-Mobile have their top riders in Switzerland. Cyclingnews asked Voigt if he felt one race was better than the other in order to hit Tour form.
"I don't think it makes a difference," he replied. "You had Lance Armstrong winning the Dauphiné and the Tour, then you also had Lance Armstrong winning the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France. It doesn't really make a difference. It is whatever you like best.
"The Dauphiné is a bit different - it is shorter, you have the advantage of doing some stages of the Tour de France as you are covering some of the same mountains.
"Here, I wouldn't say it is more relaxed, that's the wrong word, but it is certainly but laid back. You have better roads, better hotels, better food. It is a little longer, but I would say it is less stressful."
