Haimar: "I`m feeling good"

DEIA spoke to a pleased Haimar Zubeldia yesterday. Here`s excerpts from the interview I translated myself, as I figured you folks would find it an interesting read:

• DEIA: How has this week in the Dauphiné been for you?
• Haimar: It`s been a good week. I`ve been feeling good, though mainly in the mountains. But, in the stage to Valloire, which included the ascents of the Croix du Fer and the Télégraphe, I wasn`t as good as I had hoped.
• DEIA: Does that worry you?
• Haimar: No, not at all. I`ve still got three weeks left until the Tour, and I`ve got a big improvement margin. I`ve been quite good in the mountains, though, I was far behind the best in the ITT. We made an important test in the crono in the Dauphiné, and we have to consider the fact that we were way behind the best ones and that we had expected better results. All that I`ve improved in the mountains I`ve lost in the race against the clock. We`we tried to work on it, and we even went to a wind-tunnel. But, unfortunately, the work hasn`t paid off yet. I`m still not feeling good in the ITTs. In the crono in the Dauphiné which Vinokourov won, I finished happy and I felt good. But then I saw my time and I realised that my time wasn`t something to brag about. I don`t know how I`ll do in the Tour, but I`ll work really hard in the weeks that are left.
• DEIA: Do you think that the mountains will be more deciding that the ITTs in a Tour de France we`re expecting to be hard this year?
• Haimar: Both are important. If you hope to do well on GC in the Tour, you can`t afford the luxury of relaxing and loosing a lot of time in the time trials. It`s necessary to be consistent. But, yes, one bad day in the mountains and it can all be over for you.
• DEIA: You`ve raced less than other season before the Tour this year. Was it planned?
• Haimar: Yes, we`ve been taking it a bit more easy this year, hoping to find the form little by little. We`ve done so because, even though the Tour de France is important, the season doesn`t end there. We know that as a team we must also be going strong in September, for the Vuelta a España.
• DEIA: What are you hopes and ambitions for the Tour?
• Haimar: Like every year, it`s important for the team to have one rider in the top 10 and to win a stage.
• DEIA: Just with you?
• Haimar: No, not at all. I can be among the ten best ones, but we`ve also got Landaluze, Astarloza and Antón to look for stage wins. Those three were all riding strongly in the Dauphiné, and I`m sure that the rest of the riders who are going to the Tour will be just as strong, even though they`ve got less experience.
• DEIA: It`s the first time for you in the Tour without Iban Mayo by your side. Are you feeling more pressure than other years because of that?
• Haimar: When we had Iban, I didn`t feel that much pressure as Iban got most of it. But that doesn`t bother me.
• DEIA: Everyone is saying that Vinokourov is the man to beat in the Tour this year. Is he your favourite as well?
• Haimar: After what I saw of him in the Dauphiné, yes. He tested his form a couple of times and got away with to wins. And, when he wanted to take it a bit more easy, he just dropped back when he was sure his companions were OK.

I`m of the opinion that Haimar can rediscover his form of 2003, when he and Iban rocked the Alps and the Pyrenees. I thing something like a 7th place should be within his reach. Aupa Haimar!