The Scott Sunderland Diary 2004

Ullrich goes kerbang!

Tour de Suisse Stage 1, June 12, 2004

G'day all,

I'm checking in after the first stage of the Tour de Suisse, where I finished 23rd in the front group of 35 after an interesting day. Although the stage looked flat on paper, the sprinters didn't get up. It's not the first time that a big group like this has gotten away in the first stage of the TdS. Anyway, here's how it happened:

We cruised out and after about 30 km there was a sprint. We got going for the sprint...then kept going. There were a few attacks before we had the first climb of the day. Straight away there were attacks at the bottom and some of my Alessio-Bianchi teammates were going with them, but it came back together. Over the top there were five riders in front. I've gone across to them, then a few more came across straight away. I drove it for a little bit and got the group going. Then next time I peeled off, a group of 10 came up to us. Then I went up the front and came back for a second time, and another 20 were there. Meanwhile, Ullrich passed me going full gas, then the yellow jersey Vinokourov. There was Bobby Julich, Fabian Cancellara...holy jeez, there were some good riders here!

We kept going and I did another turn, before dropping back to see who the other Alessios were in the group. I dropped right to the back...bloody hell I'm here by myself! We got out to five minutes lead and then my team started to ride behind because Caucchioli is our main guy here. The other reason was that there were too many good bike riders here in front. And if I had a puncture, everything was lost. So our team had nothing to do but to chase. They'd get to the finish quicker too.

The boys got on the front and rode, but they knew the first time across the finish line that it was over. They hadn't caught us then so it was finished. Then we started racing...

In the end it was quite strange. After the first time past the finish line, we did a climb and Zampieri and Canada went away. They did the sprint and kept going; they were just swimming out there on a lead, going nowhere, especially with the tempo behind. Then we came up to the finish line for the second time and Ullrich's just gone kerbang from about fourth position with Camenzind on his wheel! I thought 'Oh yeah, it's a Telekom guy, so these guys had better react. There were four Fassas, three Lottos, four Milanezas, three Phonaks etc. I couldn't chase everything - it wasn't really my job. But they just didn't react. They waited 5-6 km before Ullrich got up to the leaders.

Now, at the beginning of the stage he was pulling some big turns. Vinokourov looked to be the protected one because he was doing less. So once Ullrich got to them they went out further. Finally there was some reaction from Fassa. Fabian Cancellara put it on the line and pulled them back a bit, then Fabian Jeker hit us on the mountain sprint and got across to them, just like that.

We ended up racing for sixth place and I got myself on the wrong side of the road. Bodrogi did a flyer with Sinkewitz on his wheel, but he took half the peloton behind me in front of me. So that was the end of the sprint but that's the way it goes. I'm just happy to be in front with the legs feeling good. We'll see what happens in the next few days.

Having most of our team miss today's breakaway, from now on they're just going to be on the front to go in all the attacks. T-Mobile has an 18 minute advantage so they can let a non-dangerous break go and ride around all day. But it's going to be very hectic keeping control of who's where.

I'm going to have to defend my GC a bit and I'll get a bit of an indication on the third day. It's an uphill finish near Neutchatel. There's a 4th cat. climb followed by 3rd cat., which is at 10 percent. I'll have a good idea of how I'm climbing there, but won't really know until I reach the sixth stage. We've got a pass of 2250m and another one of 1900m just after it. I'm in a little bit of the same situation now as I was before the Giro last year, having done no climbs longer than 4-5 km. When you start doing 25 km passes, you just have to gauge it.

My main goal is to try to get a stage win. It will be more difficult now but we'll see what happens. The best thing is that the training I've been doing is good. I'm coming up to a good Tour and just trying to prepare myself for that.

Who's looking good

Ullrich was outstanding, Totschnig looked good, Bobby Julich looked as though he was doing it easy, doing a bit of work. Vinokourov is riding OK. He was jumping after everything when Ullrich had gone. Botero and Guerini had been riding the whole day in front to keep a good tempo so it's normal they got dropped at the end. Fabian Jeker of course. He was good in Romandie and he's come here to do well.

It is good to be back in Switzerland again, with good food and good countryside. We had a little bit of rain but it wasn't cold. It's nice to be back in a country where I spent so much time previously - I was here for three years as an amateur.

I saw Maurizio Fondriest at the start and he's still looking good. He's fit and skinny, just like he was as a pro. He's doing some commentating for RAI I think as well as taking care of selling bikes. I also had a chat/hello to Toni Rominger. It's strange to be going from a bike rider to hanging out of the roof of the car as a race director.

The Devil was at the start too, yelling out "Toni, Toni, Toni". Rominger was just shaking his head. But it was keeping the crowd entertained.

All for now. Signing off for a couple of days,

Scott

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