Sint-Lodewijk Deerlijk woke up with a headache yesterday morning. In the afternoon almost everything what reffered to the
second and even bigger party in ten months was cleaned-up. Here and there a Flemish flag or a shield with "Stijn did it again."
Ten months ago the hometown of Devolder started a spontanious but massive party after the Belgian rider won the Belgian
Road Championships.
Lots of empty beer barrels and empty bottles behind a local bar were silent witnesses of the wild night in Sint-Lodewijk
Deerlijk, or Sellewie like the locals call their Žlittle province town.
At the moment that the last guests left the bar Stijn Devolder woke-up again to go out for an hour long training ride.
Devolder told sportwereld.be: "It was a short night. I woke up at 6.30 am. After the race I had a glass of champagne with
my teammates, then I stayed for half an hour with my fans and after that I went to a snackbar to eat some french fries and
a Bicky Burger. I deserved that. At home we celebarated a bit with family and friends. Very smooth. I demnded from myself
to visit the fans."
Devolder continued by saying: "I went to bed at 2am but I couldn't sleep. To much adrenaline in my body. I rode the final
sveral times again but actually I think I was scared to wake-up from a dream."
Asked how he looks back
at the race after 24 hours, Devolder said: "I don't really realise it yet. Maybe that will come when I can really celebrate
it with my teammates next week. After the final cobblestone sector of Paris - Roubaix you are feeling so empty that you have
enough of your bike for a while. For a couple of days. But this week we have two more races to go where Quickstep has a great
opportunity to win."
Devolder was critisized a lot in Belgium in the last couple of years because the two time winner of the junior edition
of Flanders did not win big races as a professional. Asked why he starts to win races now, Devolder said: "Because I focused
on Brugge like I focused on the Belgian Championship. The whole winter there was only one date which was important for me:
April 6. Putting everything on one day is a risk but I can live with that. I prepared in exactly the same way. Like on the
Wednesday after Halle - Ingooiem when I did some extra training, I did one and half hours extra after the longest stage of
Three Days of De Panne - Koksijde. That was good for 270 kilometres. If you are not finished after working seven or eight
hours, you know you are ready. I already felt at Harelbeke [GP E3 Harelbeke, editor] that it was going well. Although I was
pretty angry with myself after I was sleeping on Tuesday at De Panne and lost Thursdays time trial. I was irritating my wife
with that for two days. I hate it to lose a time trial. It was an extra motivation. Better empty handed in de Panne and win
in Meerbeke."
It was Devolders seventh Tour of Flanders. Devolder said: "I just needed more time then Tom Boonen. I am convinced that
I have more than three good years left. I never felt as good as on Sunday. I arrived in Brugge fresh, motivated and concentrated.
On other occasions I had my doubts at the start, I felt tired in my head. But all favourites have fear for each other at the
Tour of Flanders. I had that feeling all the time. Until 500 metres before the line I wouldn't zthink about winning. If things
would have come different the blow would have been to hard. Even if I knew that after I attacked at the Eikenmolenberg that
I had a great chance to stay away. The doubter inside of me is dead."
Devolder added: "When I signed with Quickstep I knew that Tom and I are the perfect combination for this kind of races. We
proved it in 'de Ronde', maybe on at Sundays Roubaix we will do it again. I don't dare to think about the double. If
its up to me I will race in the same way. Make the race tough or correct a bad situation for Tom."
Devolder also wants to shine in his first Tour de France. Devolder said: "I don't see any reason why that won't happen.
I reached my first goal. After roubaix I will rest for a while. There are two months in between. I am planning to train in
the pyrenees and the Alpes and will inspect the two time trials. I will do the Tour of Belgium and the Tour de Suisse
and than I will go to the Belgian National Championships in Knokke. I will train totally different for that."
Johan Bruyneel and Dirk Demol predicted a top ten spot for Devolder at the Tour. Asked if he would possibly skip the classics
for the Tour de france in the future, Devolder said: "I can't imagine to sit in a chair when the spring classics are passing
my front door. In cycling nothing is more beautiful than a solo finish in Meerbeke. I can tell you abou that."
