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Chris Horner
facts: Age: 33 Height: 1.72 mts Weight: 65 kg 2005 Team: Saunier Duval -
Prodir Team Website:
www.saunierduvalteam.com Previous Teams: 2004 (Webcor Cycling Team), 2003
(Saturn Cycling Team), 2002 (Prime Alliance Cycling Team), 2001 (Mercury /
Viatel), 2000 (Mercury), 1999-97 (La Francaise des Jeux), 1996 (Nutra Fig), 1995
(Individual). RoadCycling: Hello, this is
Tom. Chris Horner: Hey Tom, it’s
Chris. RC: Hi Chris, I wasn’t expecting you.
I was just finishing mowing the lawn here. What time is it over
there? CH: It’s about RC: Is he
your roommate? CH: Yea,
I’ve been staying with him at a hotel here in
RC: So how are you
doing? CH: I’m doing good,
thanks. RC: How does it feel to be back in
CH: It’s great, but man, it’s
tough. RC: How do you
mean? CH: There are just so many
distractions over here compared to the states. It’s just a lot harder
here. RC: What kind of
distractions? CH: No home, no car, no family, no
friends, the language barriers…. RC: No home??? CH: Yea, I’m homeless. I sold my home
in RC: What did you do? Did you head
back to CH: I bounced around between family
and friends but spent most of my time living in
RC: (Laughing!) – I’m picturing a
Cousin Eddie moment here. CH: Yea, his neighbors probably loved
us. RC: That’s classic! So, how are your
kids doing? How old are they now? CH: They’re doing great. They’re
seven, five and three now. RC: Wow, they’re getting
big. CH: Yea, they are. They’re always
changing. RC: How long has it been since you’ve
seen them? CH: About three months
now. RC: That sucks! CH: Yea, it does. It’s hard being
away from them so much. RC: I can understand that. So how’s
the whole language thing? Does the team have a translator? CH: No, I basically just have to
figure everything out for myself. RC: I bet that’s
tough. CH: Yea, the team is primarily
Spanish and Italian and I speak neither. RC: Have you been working on the
different languages? CH: When I first got here I picked up
a Spanish dictionary, so I can understand some Spanish now but no Italian. I
actually use French the most. That’s my best language. RC: I’m guessing that’s from your
days riding with Francaise des Jeux? CH: Yea. RC: Congratulations on your
5th place finish and stage win at the Tour de Suisse. CH:
Thanks! RC: How
do you feel about your performance there? CH: It
was great! I was hoping for a stage win or a possible top 10 on GC, and I was
able to get both. It was awesome! RC: What
did you think of the competition? There were a lot of big names
there. CH: It’s
tough over here. I don’t know the riders like I do in the states, so I don’t
know who’s who. Of course I can pick out Ullrich and those guys, but most of
these guys I have no idea who they are and what they are capable
of. RC: Was
that the problem with Nibali (Fassa Bortolo) on Stage 6? CH: Yea,
I had no clue who he was or what he could do. It’s tough because the peloton is
so strong here, and the racing is so much different then in the states. You know
these guys aren’t weak, so you never know if they’re just holding back or if
they really are struggling. It’s not like the riders in the
RC: So
what did you think of the performances of the so called ‘Tour Favorites’ at the
Tour de Suisse? CH:
Ullrich was amazing! He was so strong in those first two days. We all thought he
was going to win but then he just kind of disappeared. I’m not sure what
happened. I know he was sick on the last stage, so I’m not sure if he picked up
a bug somewhere in the race or what was going on, but he was flying those first
two days. RC: What
about Mayo and Beloki? CH: You
know, I couldn’t even tell you who they were in the pack let alone what they
were doing. I just don’t know these guys. When Aitor [Gonzalez] attacked on that last day
I didn’t even know it was Aitor up the road. By the time Guerini pulled us back
up to Rogers and Schleck, he [Aitor] was already gone. I think the only time
I’ve seen Aitor was when he was on the cover of VeloNews when he won the Vuelta
a few years ago. RC: How is your race communication
with your team? You barely hear half the stuff on those radios as it is, so I
imagine it doesn’t help when your director and teammates are going off in
Spanish or Italian.
CH: It makes it really hard! Usually
our team director will use French when communicating with me, but as you know,
it can be a mess when there’s a lot going on. In the last stage of the Tour de
Suisse, I didn’t realize it was Gonzalez up the road. If had known I would have
tried to reduce the gap more on the climb as I was holding back. I figured we
would catch him on the descent as we had something like 20km still to go to the
finish and 5 of us to work together. In the end, it was only like two and half
of us working.....We should have caught him! RC: Yea, that surprised me too.
Congratulations on your Tour selection! CH: Thanks! RC: What do you think about this
year’s Tour de France? CH: I’m really excited. This will be
my first Tour if I can get there, ‘knock on wood’. RC: What do you
mean? CH: Well, I’ve actually been selected
to do the Tour a couple of times with both Francaise des Jeux and Mercury, but I
just haven’t been able to get there. I broke my wrist in the weeks prior to the
Tour when I was with Francaise des Jeux, and well, you know the whole story with
Mercury. This year my number one goal is to just get to the
start. RC: We’re all crossing our fingers
for you Chris. CH: Thanks. I’m really
excited. RC: Looking at the team, it’s pretty
clear there’s no clear cut team leader? What role do you see yourself playing at
the Tour? CH: Right now we have a few different
guys who can mix it up for both stage wins and high overall placings. We have
Garate who’s doing the double this year and finished 5th overall at
the Giro. Zaballa is going really well right now and of course Leo [Leonardo Piepoli]. He’ll be looking for a
strong finish and will be a man to watch in the mountains. We’ll basically wait
to see what happens in those first mountain stages especially the first mountain
top finish on Courchevel, then work around our leaders at that
point. RC: How do you feel about the team’s
chances in the Team Time Trial? CH: I really don’t know what to
expect, but we have strong guys. It’ll definitely be a learning experience for
me. Something new. RC: I was a little surprised of your
time trial performance at the Tour de Suisse? How are feeling about your time
trialing? CH: My TT was terrible! I’m not sure
what happened that day. As you know, I’m better then that, but it certainly put
a scare into my team thinking that I can’t time trial. I’m not a time trial
specialist like Zabriskie or Baldwin, but I can certainly hold my own. I’m
usually no less then top ten in the RC: Have you had the chance to recon
any of the Tour de France stages? CH: I haven’t. I’ll just be following
wheels. RC: Have you altered your training in
any way in preparation for the Tour? CH: I basically recovered after
Suisse and have just kicked the training back up again before the start of the
Tour. The biggest thing lately has been my diet. Our team trainer was teasing me
at Tirreno about being heavy, and as you know, I’m far from heavy, but I have
made some adjustments and have lost a kilo or two. I could really feel the
difference in the mountains in RC: So what adjustments did you make
to your diet? CH: Basically just cut out the snacks
and soda. It’s really hard here in RC: Do you monitor your calorie
intake from day to day? CH: No. I just make sure I eat
balanced. The biggest thing was the eating after the bike. I’ve just been
watching that more closely. There’s a fine line to all of this because if you
cut too many calories you don’t recover as well and your whole training is
affected. You’ll go out the next day and you’ll just be tired, so you have to be
careful to eat enough to maintain effective training, but not to over eat, so
you can still lose that little bit. RC: What kind of approach do you take
towards supplements? I know there’s a broad range in discipline with elite
cyclists when it comes to nutrition and supplements. Some are pretty relaxed
about it all while others are obsessive. How do you look at it
all? CH: I’m pretty laid back with all of
this. I really don’t get into all of the vitamins and supplements like others. I
mean you’ll see these guys with their fishing boxes of
supplements. RC: Fishing
boxes??? CH: Yea, it’s
crazy! RC: So what do you prefer on the
bike? Anything special? CH: Again, I’m not too picky. I
usually take one water bottle and one bottle of our team’s drinks. I really like
all of the bars and gels. Those work really well for me. RC: So what do you think of your new
Scott team bike in comparison to some of your previous team
bikes? CH: It’s an incredible bike. It’s
light, stiff, and handles really well. RC: How do you compare it to your old
Webcor Lemond or even the Felts you’ve been on in the
past? CH: The Lemond is a really nice bike
and I liked my Felts but the Scott just has the complete package in a super
light bike that is still stiff and responsive. Most superlight bikes get soft
and don’t handle as well, but the Scott is solid. It’s the best team bike that
I’ve been on. RC: As everyone knows, the Tour has
become the marketing arena for companies to showcase their new latest and
greatest masterpieces. Does Scott or any of your equipment suppliers have
anything new that they will be rolling out for the Tour? CH: There was some talk about new TT
bikes, but I’m not sure if we’re going to get those or not. If we do it will be
a surprise. RC: Kind of like your last minute
Lemond TT bike at the Tour of Georgia two years ago? CH: (Chuckles…) RC: Are you going to have any family
with you during the Tour de France? CH: Probably not, but you never know
who may show up. RC: So you may see your Cousin
Eddie? CH: Yea, there will be plenty of them
on the side of the road. RC: Thanks for the call Chris. It was
great talking to you. Have a good night and good luck in
CH: Thanks. Chris Horner
- Career Highlights: 2005: 1st, Stage
6, Tour de Suisse 2004: 1st, GC, Sea Otter Classic 2003: 1st, GC, Tour Of Georgia 2002: 2nd, USPRO Championship,
ITT 2001: 1st, Stage 5, Redlands
Classic 2000: 1st, GC, Tour Of Langkawi 1999: 4th, GC,
Tour Trans Canada 1998: 9th, Grand
Prix des Nations 1997: 3rd, Grand Prix Ouest
1996: 1st, Corestates Hamilton
Classic 
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