today I've got the yellow jersey!   And that?s all I'm thinking about right now.

You?ve said several times before that you are in the best shape you?ve ever been in - how do you quantify that?

Power to weight, the way that I feel - I am more confident and I feel that I have as much if not more experience than anyone else in the pro peloton - that has to count for something.   I feel great training, I have great numbers, and I am better than ever.

Johan Bruyneel Q&A:

It appeared that George was aggressively seeking the yellow jersey by attacking in the final intermediate sprint.   Does this signal a change from the team's previously announced plan of being an agent of chaos rather than trying to control the race.   Will Discovery try to defend the jersey?

I think what happened today is a perfect example of what I have been saying for the last few weeks.   Right now we don't know what we can take to
Paris.  We hope it's a lot but we have nothing guaranteed.   And so we're going to take every single opportunity that is place in front of us.   George today was a perfect example; we didn't even talk about trying to get the jersey - we didn't even think about it.   Thor Hushovd is a fast sprinter - probably faster than George - and he's in such good shape that I even thought he could win the bunch sprint today in the yellow jersey.

So how did it set up?

With 9 km to go there was still one guy down the road, and George sees an opportunity and goes for the intermediate sprint, only one person reacts and yet he still gets those important two seconds.   It's a perfect example of what we want to do in this Tour de France.  

Will you defend the jersey tomorrow?

There's always that question?   it would have been huge if George had won the jersey yesterday - that would have been a big statement.   But that didn't happen and the little luck he lost yesterday, he got back today.   He had to be lucky: if Boonen had won or Hushovd had been in the Top 3 he wouldn?t have the jersey.   I think it's logical and we have shown in the past that if you have the jersey, at least the first day you defend it.   We have to think that is good for the atmosphere of the team and something to build on.   And if we can keep it another day, we're going to try, but if the sprint decides that somebody else gets it then that's OK, but tomorrow we'll definitely try to defend it.