Roman Kreuziger - Team Liquigas

I didn’t want to burn myself up

Fri July 16, 2010, 18:55

Roman pulled off a great performance in the 12th stage of the Tour when he finished tenth in the top mountain finish in Mende losing 15 seconds on the winner Rodriguez. He has moved up to tenth place overall ahead of his teammate Basso.

"The pace was killing right from the start. We reached the average speed 49 after the first hour despite going over a 10-kilometer climb. A group wanted to break away but every time some major contender was there. For this reason, the pace was so rapid," Roman explained. 
Eventually, a group with Vinokurov, Klödenem and Hesjedalen broke away and the main field became alert. "We maintained the gap within two minutes and, in the end, we almost caught them," he admitted. He was familiar with the finish climb from this year’s Paris-Nice. 
"I said previously that the finish would suit Contador and Rodriguez and I was right. I remembered that climb and I knew that I would have to start it off easy. I didn’t want to set a too high pace because I might get dropped later, so, I was gradually speeding up. The gap wasn’t that big, just five seconds on Andy, that is nothing," admitted the Liquigas rider who has moved up in the GC ahead of Basso. "That Ivan has lost some seconds on me today is insignificant. These short steep climbs are not his cup of tea. We keep sticking to two leaders strategy and I believe that this tactics will prove successful," Roman added. 
 
12th stage (210.5 km): 1st Rodriguez (Spa/Katusa) 4:58:26, 2nd Contador (Spa/Astana), 3rd Vinokurov (Kaz/Astana) +4, 4th Van den Broeck (Bel/Lotto), 5th A. Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank), 6th S. Sánchez (Spa/Euskaltel), 7th Klöden (Ger/RadioShack), 8th Mensov (Rus/Rabobank) all +10, 9th Gesink (Ned/Rabobank), 10th Roman Kreuziger (CZE/Liquigas) both +15.  
Overall rankings: 1st A. Schleck 58:42:01, 2nd Contador +31, 3rd S. Sánchez +2:45, 4th Mensov +2:58, 5th Van den Broeck +3:31, 6th Leipheimer (USA/RadioShack) +4:06, 7th Gesink +4:27, 8th Rodriguez +4:58, 9th L. Sánchez (Spa/Caisse d Epargne) +5:02, 10th Roman Kreuziger +5:16, 11th Basso (Ita/Liquigas) +5:30.

This article is also translated :
Nechtěl jsem přepálit tempo