Tour de France stage winner, Olympic champion, World champion and 1 hour world record holder. Chris Boardman spoke exclusively to Roadcycling.com about this year's tour and the recent attempt on his hour record.
Firstly; let's talk about this year's Tour. Armstrong has been looking vulnerable. Do you think he simply isn't the rider of the past four years or have others such as Ullrich and Vinokourov improved? Armstrong looks like he has to calculate his efforts all lot more than in previous years, such as in today's stage to Luz Ardiden. It's impossible to be perfect every year, I would say a bit of both but he is certainly still 'driven' and has lost none of his focus.
Will Lance win number 5? Probably...but it is by no means certain, making this the best race to watch for years.
From a fan's point of view, the race has been fantastic to watch; it's probably never been so close at this stage of the race since 1989. Do you ever wish you were back there? Quite simply, NO it hurt, was dangerous and ate up ALL of your (and your families) time. It was good, I was content that I found everything there was to find, now I am doing other things.
Dave Millar certainly did the ride in the opening prologue but was unfortunate with his well-documented mechanical problems. Before the race started he said he was aiming for a stage this year and then going for the GC next year. Is the realistic for him or do you think he's found his level within the peloton? Physically yes, Dave will win big races he has the intelligence and the ability but I doubt he will ever have the mental stability to be a big stage rider. This is not a criticism, merely an observation.
It's been an incredible ride by Tyler Hamilton so far with that double fracture of his collarbone. This must have impressed you? Tyler is above all a nice bloke, which is the most important thing to me but may well stop him being the very best. On the other hand he will likely have a longer happier life as a result. He falls into the category of rider who really wants to win as apposed to needing to win, a subtle but critical difference when it comes to the crunch. I am rather cynical when it comes to his collar bone; if it was properly broken, he wouldn't be there.
Coming through in this year's TdF are the next generation of young Aussie riders - Baden Cooke, Michael Rogers, etc. Their success stems from a tried and tested track program. Is this the future for countries to develop their young riders? Do you think a track background provides a rider with an X factor, which they bring into the pro-peloton? The track shows the size of the basic engine, the mental attitude is a different thing.
When you finished racing, it was perceived that the peloton was riding at two levels. Do you think that is still the case or is cycling getting its house in order? It will always be the case in all sports (life in general for that matter) that people will try to take short cuts and influence the result of things in there favour. At some points in history, you are winning more battles than you are loosing and vice versa. I take this generally philosophical stand point or it gets depressing.
Going back to Millar, he's been quoted, as saying that one thing he's also looking at is the hour record, which you presently hold. Is he the sort of rider who you think has the ability to beat your record? Yes he is.
British Tester Michael Hutchinson recently attempted to beat your record but pulled up after 40 minutes. Were you there to watch his attempt? What do you think of his efforts? No I was away. People think the hour is simply about riding around in circles as fast as you can until someone says stop, I'm afraid it is a lot more complicated than that....as Michael found out. I think his was a good effort and I believe he learned a lot from it that will make him a better bike rider. I was saddened though that the UCI let him use a blade seat pin, a non ANNSI and SNELL helmet and aero forks, they really need to knuckle down to the simple set of rules we set out or they will be back to it being about technology in not time.
You were involved in coaching the Irish track squad at Manchester for the B-World Track Championships. Is this something you hope to do more of in the future? Will we see you working with the British team? I am an 'expert advisor' to the British team and ran a 7 month project in Ireland setting up a National track team for them. This culminated in the B-Worlds where they finished in the top 10 in every event and qualified an Olympic place (with a guy who has never raced on the track...in the Kerin) It was a very educational experience, I enjoyed it but it was too time consuming to repeat whilst I work for the British team.
Ex-British pro Sean Yates has been working with the CSC team this season. Have you ever fancied yourself as a bit of a Director Sportif? Never, they work harder that the riders, it is a labor of love and I have other loves these days.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to Roadcycling.com.
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