July 23, 2005 – Michael Barry, preparing for the recommencement of the Classics and fall races, took some time to answer some questions about the last week of the Tour. Here’s what he had to say.

What did you think of the TT today?

It was a tough course and made for an exciting race. St.Etienne is in a deep valley and whenever a race starts there it is going to be hard as the course will climb from the start. The roads they rode on today were technical and there was never really a section where they could simply sit in the saddle and power away for a while – the course was either up or down. They had to be fully focused – on the physical effort as well as negotiating the course as fast as possible without crashing. The results at the end of the day were as predicted.

Discovery has had a good Tour. George Hincapie and Paolo Savodelli won stages, tell us about your teammates.

Yeah, it was great to see them win. It was the first time a rider from the team has ever won a stage other than Lance. These guys work so hard for the team and Lance it was cool they had the opportunity to go for a victory. George has worked so hard for Lance since his first victory in ’99 and has never really had the opportunity to go for a stage – he has been incredible since the start of the Tour and has proven himself in the mountains. Paolo is a champion and he said at the start of the Tour he didn’t think he would have the chance to go for a stage but when the opportunity presented itself he took it and rode a great race tactically also showing he was the strongest of the group.

Who has really surprised you this Tour?

CSC’s Ivan Basso has greatly improved his time trialing skills and will be the man to beat for the overall in 2006. Rabo’s Michael Rasmussen had some incredible rides in the mountains but had a horrible TT. There weren’t really any big surprises. Lotto’s Cadel Evans probably did a lot better ride than a lot of people would have predicted.

For more about Michael Barry and his new book, “Inside the Postal Bus” visit www.michaelbarry.ca