ROTFL
VN: Why did you chase him that day and not earlier in the race [on stage 9]
when he was in a break with that Euskaltel guy [Iñigo Landaluze]?
LA: Well, I think the misconception is that I chased him. I was on the
wheel. I didn't chase him. I mean, I didn't go across to him. I was on the
wheel. And I'm in the yellow jersey, he's attacking, I'm on the wheel, I'm
thinking, "Of course, Ullrich's there [on my wheel]. Of course, Klöden's
there. Of course, Basso's there. Of course, all these guys are there. Of
course. Their teams are there."
And I have to say [Simeoni] was going very fast. And I didn't look back. I
mean, he pulled for a couple of minutes. And I was just like - he kept
looking back - "Why is he pulling me?" And then I turned around and there
was nobody there, and I thought, "Oh, oh. This is kinda funny." But I never
chased him. No.
VN: But you stopped him from joining the break ...
LA: No, we joined the break.
VN: Yeah, I meant you wouldn't let him carry on with the break ...
LA: That's what he says.
VN: Okay, what do you say?
LA: No, I'm the one who started ... we got in the break. I started riding
with the break. We had about 45 seconds at that point. I took 'em ... all of
those guys working and me, but me pulling as hard as I could, took them to
two and a half minutes. And he was just sitting on the back, whining,
"Aaah...." He was yelling, not working, because they were [censored] at him.
That's what happened. If you watch the film, you'll see that. He did not
work at all. He was whining, like some Italians do ... "Yah, yah, yah" ...
all these things, and I'm like, "Shut up and ride your bike. C'mon."
But all those guys, they had an opportunity for a stage win. And finally
they said to me, "Thanks for the help. Two and a half minutes. Will you go
back?" And I said, "Sure." And I sat up, and the next thing I know, he sits
up. And I'm like, "Why is he sitting up?" I've never really shared my
version of that story because it's hardly worth it, but since you asked ...
VN: Well, it's very interesting.
LA: Yeah. But I don't want to say that I was all.... I think this idea of me
chasing him down and he had like 15 seconds and I went across.... He may
have come up one side ... but I was immediately on the wheel. I didn't look
back, and I certainly didn't expect to be alone. How can those guys
[Ullrich, Basso et cetera] not come with me. That doesn't make sense.