Stephan, was it the plan for you to jump in an early breakaway?
 
Stephan Schreck: Before the race we divided up our squad of nine riders into three groups of three, the strategy was for a group to be active in the early part, middle part, and in the finale. Wegmann, Schumacher and Zabel were our men for the finale, and I was part of the early group. And the way the race situation panned out, I was able to get clear in a break on the second lap.
 
Were you surprised that you managed to stay away for so long?
 
Schreck:  We went flat out for the first lap after the attack, so that we quickly opened up a few minutes gap back to the main bunch. The big teams, like Italy, also had riders in the group. For that reason the really big guns were able to save their legs for the finale and our gap to the bunch grew to 15 minutes. At that stage I was thinking: Holey smoley, what happens now?
 
Were you thinking at this point that your group could stay clear all the way to the finish?
 
Schreck: No, in really big races, even big leads like ours rapidly start to come down in the second half of a race. The only doubt was how long. Would the whole peloton peg us back in or would a small group bridge across to us. As it happened, 20 riders caught us with two laps to go, but there were no other German riders in the group. The left me in a critical situation. I was already pretty cooked, but I still had to try and keep going at the front.
 
The season is drawing to a close. Can you sum up your season ?
 
Schreck: My form for the classics came 14 days too late. After Paris-Roubaix, where I spend a lot of time riding at the front, things went really well for me. I was sixth overall at the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt at the end of April. I wasn’t nominated the Tour roster in the summer, which was obviously a disappointment to me. But I accepted that the team had nine riders better than me, and only the strongest could be selected to start in France.
 
What's left for you in the 2006 season?
 
Schreck: I will be racing right up to the season curtain-closer in Lombardy, that means the remaining three ProTour races; Züri Metzgete, Paris-Tours and Tour of Lombardy. Then in winter I am just looking forward to spending more time with my family...
 
Stephan, many thanks for the talk

Source: T-Mobile team