Every one of the (16) teams is stacked with talent. The teams that take the race seriously -- those who take the time and effort to check out each stage ahead of time -- will have the best success. |
I think he'll be in the mix. |
I thought it was great; every race doesn't have to be an epic death march. It was an exceptional course that made for exceptional racing. The top 10 was tightly packed (only 1:58 separated Landis from No. 10 finisher Jason McCartney of Discovery Channel). It made things more exciting; it added to the drama. |
If you take cyclists, runners, cross-country skiers, swimmers and all kinds of endurance athletes across the board, the people who are abusing EPO might number in the lows 100s. Compare that to the thousands of people for whom the drug has been a lifesaving application. |
It makes good business sense, but I don't like it. Those stations were the cornerstone of this community. |
Radio is changing dramatically. This feels like the loss of a friend that you knew you could always count on and now they won't be there. |
The Amgen Tour of California provides a great stage to show the strength of our team. And with the team and our title sponsor - as well as a number of our industry sponsors - based in California, we intend to make a good showing during the race. |
The guys who want to be successful in the summer can't be flying in February. The riders whose minds are set on July (the Tour de France) probably won't be at their best (at the Tour of California). |
There are 10-20 names that have the fitness to win the race, and Chris would have to be one of them. Chris is just a big engine, a locomotive, a diesel ... with long femurs and huge quadriceps who has the horsepower. |
There are no pure, pure climber's stages, no 10-mile, 14-percent brutes. And there are no bone-flat sprinters' stages, either. |
There are some obvious hot topics today, and those will certainly be spoken to. |
There is no real plan. We're more concerned with winning the race. This race is too difficult to say 'we're 100 percent working for this guy.' There are too many factors. If we can get the jersey, great. If we can win the bike race and not get the jersey, great. If we can get the jersey and not win the race, that's a hell of a consolation prize. We'd be happy with either scenario. |
Though we are more of a sprinting team, we have sprinters who can get over the hills. I figure the winner would be someone other than a typical GC rider. |
We always put a lot of pressure on ourselves; I mean we never go into a race looking to [do] anything other than win and this is no exception. We've been in the area, checking all the different climbs and hazards that may surprise some of the teams in the middle of the race. We'll be ready for this race. |
We've taken every measure possible to make sure that everything is random and fair. |