Saxo Bank duo have been fantasizing about Stage 3’s finale since the Tour de France’s first rest day
Today’s second member of the dominant Saxo Bank 1-2 in Vejle, Jakob Fuglsang, confirmed stage winner Matti Breschel’s post-stage comments that the idea to ride away together had been talked about in the morning. However, the two-time defending Post Danmark Rundt winner, Fuglsang, takes it a step further and says that the idea hatched a long time before this morning’s team meeting.
“We had agreed in advance. Ever since the first rest day of the Tour, we have talked about it. So we agreed that if we could get away together, [Matti] could take the stage victory, and I had to see if I could take [the overall lead] from him in the time trial. So now we have to see if it can be done.”
Like Breschel, Fuglsang agrees that the dream they talked about throughout July was lovely, but actually succeeding and making the fantasy a reality was another thing entirely. In the team meeting this morning in Hadsten, the two asked only to be brought into Vejle and the crucial, extremely hard finishing circuits at the head of the field – after that, they would take care of the rest.
“It’s one thing to talk about, something else to actually do it. I do not think there were that many that believed in it when we said what we wanted to do this morning on the bus. We said we just needed to be delivered to the [finishing town of] Vejle, and that we would ride away. Bjarne said that sounded fine if we could do it, so we just had to do it.”
The first part of the Breschel/Fuglsang plan finished in beautiful fashion, the next part could be even better, as the two lay down their alliance and go head to head for top honors at their home tour.
“Now, we’ll see how Matti goes in the time trial tomorrow. He got some bonus seconds over me today, so that will give him a head start. Nothing is settled yet, and basically, nothing is settled until we finish in Copenhagen on Sunday.”
Team manager, Bjarne Riis agrees with the rider that will be leaving his team for 2011: “Let’s just wait and see. Matti is in a favorable position, and it could be possible for him to win, but there is still that time trial tomorrow.”
Breschel’s 10 second lead over the superior time trialist, Fuglsang, is not much, and the 19.5 kilometer test against the clock will necessitate the time trial of Breschel’s life if he hopes to hold off the Post Danmark Rundt overall dominator. Breschel commented on his time trialing skills earlier this year ahead of the Tour of California and acknowledged that they were not up to the standards of the rest of his abilities, but that he was working hard to turn his one glaring weakness into yet another arrow in his quiver. It will be interesting to see what improvements Breschel has made when the race for the overall is decided tomorrow in Middelfart.