May 25, 2007 (Derry, Ireland) — Due to internet access problems yesterday we were unable to bring you Dominique Rollin’s report, so here are Stages 5 and 6 together.

Welcome to Northern Ireland! The Brits are taking over the race, not the racers, but the security and cops. What a mess! Coming in to Derry, where today’s stage finished, we were clogged in traffic. Happily, I came around in the break with 13 other riders, it eased the slalom through the cars. On the last three corners I had to dodge a commissaire’s car and a motorcycle to make my way to my second stage win.

This morning I awoke and was surprised at how good I felt. Not that I’d recovered from the past five days, but I felt like yesterday went by me like a normal stage and not the hardest so far. What I mean is, when you race at these stage races, after a few days your body hits a certain point of fatigue where it sits comfortably. You reach a level of fatigue were you feel tired, but you know you can keep pushing the machine and it will respond. It’s when you go beyond the point of no return that it’s all over. So this morning prior to the stage after a 20km warm up, I felt great — a stage race great”¦ not whiskey great (for those who are fallowing Landis case)

It’s unbelievable what a good night of sleep can do for you. We all rose this morning with the anger of reclaiming the leader’s jersey. From now on, we go from the defensive to the offensive – ATTACK!

We’ve said it, we did it! First attack of the day, guess who launched it? And here it goes, one, two, and three”¦. motivation is there, no time to recover, so here we go again. At 96km the stage was short, so I made it worth the effort.

And finally, a small group is riding off the front. 30seconds, 40, 45,”¦ that’s the one and I’m in it! After analyzing who can be threatening and realizing that this move is more than satisfying, I got things organized to put as much pressure on the yellow jersey as I could.

Stage 5

Exhausted. This is How I Feel Tonight

I am having the hardest time to find anything interesting that happened today. Not that nothing happened, but I’m just having a hard time focusing to find the proper words to explain our journey. Even if the Irish weather finally showed itself and gave us the hardest stage so far, I still can’t find the words to describe everything we had to face today.

From narrow bumpy roads to a free fall down hill, we had everything happening around us. We even had a crazy driver who avoided the cops’ directions and drove straight in to the field. But even this is only one of many little flash backs that pop here and there from what happened today.

Don’t ask me how beautiful the scenery is, it must be wonderful, from what I’ve been told. I can give you a full report on the pavement’s condition. For a while, it even felt like home, potholes, cracks, missing patches of pavement.

What a great way to prepare for the Tour de Beauce. I’m talking of Beauce, Quebec”¦ Mont Megantic here I come. We just did a climb steeper then the base of Megantic. A two kilometer wall, supposedly the hardest climb in Ireland. Thank you SRAM for the 26, it helped, for a while”¦ until I realized I was on top of my gears and it can’t go further. When I reached the top, what a release”¦at least for or a few seconds, because the downhill is even worse than the climb. A straight line blown by cross wind. I’m sure I exceeded the speed limit by a hundred.

As a team, this stage went great. We did our best to protect our lead and managed to limit the loss. We gave away the lead at the tour, which isn’t a bad thing since it will give us a bit of a rest and allow us to bring the race to our level.

From now on we will make the race happen instead of waiting for others to create opportunities. On today’s stage, Jesse lost a few second on the final 10km and now sits in third place at 36secs from the leader. For myself, I finished the stage in 17th spot which put me in 6th place on GC. Not bad for a 180-pound rider, eh?