Rasmussen interview

Triathlon Forum
1

Found this:

Author: Kristian (—.funzilla.com)
Date: 07-14-05 21:47

Hi everybody. There is a lot of speculation as to what Rasmussen will or ought to do the next couple of days. Since you don’t read much about the guy in the international media, I thought some of you might be interested in this interview that I’ve translated from one of the Danish newspapers. The media cover of the Tour is pretty extensive in Denmark especially when it comes to CSC and Rasmussen. There are daily interviews and comments that don’t make it to the international media. This might give you a better idea about the guy, his ambitions and his personality.

I am of course a big fan of the guy since he is my countryman and the good Danish riders are few and far in between. On top of that he is very ambitious and by no means modest which makes him unlike most Danes. Personally I don’t think he has the slightest chance of beating LA and I think he should be more than satisfied if he makes it to the podium, but who cares? He has already done far better than I would ever have imagined. And him being king of the mountain is pretty weird – the guy grew up in a country where the highest point is 500 feet above sea level!

I apologize beforehand for misspelled words and bad grammar!

Michael: Lance is showing signs of weakness

He is building it up. Kilometre by kilometre, stage by stage, day by day. Michael Rasmussen is slowly mobilising all his mental and physical strength for the final battle tomorrow and on Sunday in the Pyrenees.

The Dane has observed and analysed Lance Armstrong and the message from the Danish king of the mountain is clear.

“Lance Armstrong is not unbeatable. I am certain that he can be defeated. And I think that it might be me who could defeat him.”

While Moreau in third spot is looking towards Rasmussen in second, the Danish Rabobank rider has studied Armstrong and noticed that he, unlike other years, has shown signs of weakness in this year’s Tour de France.

“In previous years he (Armstrong red.) has shown great class and strength in the Tour. He has more or less left everybody when we reached the first climb – and he couldn’t and didn’t do that on the climb to Courchevel. And that must be considered a sign of weakness and hence he is not unbeatable.” Says Michael Rasmussen

Worst day on Courchevel
On Tuesdays stage 10 from Grenoble to Courchevel it was Valverde, Manchebo and Rasmussen himself who Armstron was unable to get rid of. Even though Armstrong at the end attacked along with the young Velverde and Rasmussen actually had to let go.

“I actually think that I had my worst day on Courchevel. I didn’t do my body many favours on Sunday when I had my long breakaway. On top of that I missed my flight and didn’t get anything to eat on Sunday.
The rest day on Monday was a really shitty day with a million things to do, so I was definitely not better of than the others were when we started Tuesdays stage” says Rasmussen.

The strategy for the Danish king of the mountain is still clear: to attack Lance Armstrong in the Pyrenees - the only and final opportunity for Rasmussen. A strategy that is meant to secure him a place on the podium.

“I have probably never ridden as fast as I am doing right now. So now is the time for me to take my chances. The only chance I’ve got is to attack in the Pyrenees, because I need create a bigger gap to those who are close to me in the GC. I am going for at place on the podium.”
“It’s riders like Basso, Ulrich and Botero that I must distance further. They are all somewhat stronger than me in the TT. I do believe that I can beat a rider like Basso even though he is riding strong at the moment. I believe I am stronger than him in the mountains.

/Kristian

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He can climb, but he will likely not finish the Tour in the top 10.

  1. LA

  2. Basso

  3. Ullrich

  4. Landis

  5. Leipheimer

3

He might be right about Lance but I think he has misread the signs…

Cheers

Vernon

4

He better hope Armstrong doesn’t see this. Bet anything it’ll be posted in the team bus. Better to just go about your business quietly, and let sleeping dogs lie.

5

That’s what’s up. Nothing wrong with confidence but Rasmussen should have kept that one. No need to give LA any extra motivation. He’s about to get crossed over ala MJ vs. Brian (Byron) Russell. I might actually tape this one.

6

“Even though Armstrong at the end attacked along with the young Velverde and Rasmussen actually had to let go.”

That climb where Armstrong broke away from the breakaway and only Valverde could hold on for dear life … that stage could hardly be interpreted as a weakness on the part of Lance. He did exactly what he had to do to put time into the main pretenders.

Rasmussen is doing a great job in the King of the Mountains and also in the GC. After his good performances he’s done well to stay with the peloton and retain his position. However stages 11 and 12 we have not seen him do anything much, so that’s 2 mountains gone by without doing much. Next two flat stages will not likely be anything spectacular for him either and if he’s not to drop back in GC a help from his Rabobank teamates may come in handy. So far from the telecasts we don’t see his team featuring much. Then of course there’s the Pyrenees, last chances not to be wasted for a climber.

One thing though looking at this little man with the darting nervous eyes, looks like such a modest guy, would never have figured him for one to blow his own trumpet. He’s not yet in the position to talk about Lance’s weaknesses. Getting a bit ahead of himself. Hope it won’t be like - pride go’eth before a fall. Seeing what he’s up against he had better save his focus for the task ahead.

7

I think you’ve got it wrong. Rasmussen will definitely be in the top ten. He’ll almost definitely get out TT’d, but he’s going to lose very little time to Lance in the mountains, and probably no time to the others.

  1. LA
  2. Ras
  3. Levi
  4. Valverde
  5. Jan/Landis/Basso
8

If you think about it, they haven’t really “raced” up any of the steep mountains yet. Yesterday (depaending on where you live, I guess), they just rode tempo to keep Vino at a reasonable distance. It’s not like Courchevel was a tough climb (tell that to T-Mobile!), at least by the typical standards one thinks of when it comes to mountain stages.

I think some people are in for a wake-up call this weekend, especially Sunday. I still think the Tour was over after the first twelve miles, but it’ll really be over Sunday.

9

Rumour has it Valverde is about to pull out.
He’s been fighting some issue (knee?) for while.

10

You’re saying,

“I think you’ve got it wrong. Rasmussen will definitely be in the top ten. He’ll almost definitely get out TT’d, but he’s going to lose very little time to Lance in the mountains, and probably no time to the others.”

That’s a little different from what Rasmussen is saying in this supposed interview posted,

“Lance Armstrong is not unbeatable. I am certain that he can be defeated. And I think that it might be me who could defeat him.”

And like I said,

“There’s a saying - pride go’eth before a fall.”

Actually I was even tipping him as a possible podium finisher in Paris. But I reckon quiet determination (he’ll need all he can muster) is better than shooting off at the mouth if indeed he did.

But one thing is for 100% sure. And that is it is all about to unfold and the confirmations will all be in soon enough. Let’s see who here are the better predictors!

11

I was saying “I think you’ve got it wrong” to gary about his top 5 predictions.

-C

12

LA was for sure trying to drop everybody on the Climp on stage 10 – but he couldn’t !

Only in the sprint he got 9 sek on Rasmussen and Mancebo – and lost the sprint to Valverde .

Of course he did not do anything on stage 12 !? this was almost a “flat” stage – and the French national day – wich means all french riders will give their right leg to win !

No reason to do anything on Stage 11 – he would not have bin “allowed” to get to far away – and the disco boys would have chase him down on the final 40km – only reason vino and botero was “allowed” to go - was because they where whey down in the GC – and no threat to LA.

Gary T: Why is it he will not finish in top 10 ? Have you seen the stage profile on Sun ? They got 52km going up – with 6,9% to 8,6 % - and very little flat in between… with final 10,3km with 8,3% - Pretty sure somebody will loose a lot of time here – and I don’t think it will be Rasmussen.

And yes – he believe in him self – that’s a good start when you need to do something big…

13

Well top 5 prediction is tough. Either of you pull it off, it certainly will be a good trick.

Basically I was just sticking to the thread topic about the li’l nervous looking guy.

14

Really ? How do you know that ?

15

I wish I could remember where I read or heard the interview where Lance said he was only riding at 85-90% on the climb to Courchevel and that he had no need to go any harder to push his body into the red zone since he was gaining time on all of the main contenders. If that really was the case tomorrow and Sunday should be really interesting to watch.

16

Seemed to me from “watching” on the internet that Lance simply got into a breakaway group of 4 that was working together and by doing so they all put a lot of time into the main GC contenders. He ended up putting more time into Jan Ullrich than he did on the L’alpe stage in 2001. Had to be a lot easier to do that with a group that shared the work instead of on a solo attack.

So far, there have been three stages (first TT, Team TT and mountaintop finish) where a GC contender could put time into his opponents, and Lance has put time into all of the other GC contenders in each of those stages. Looks good for him going into this weekend, Rasmussen was a fool to say something to piss Lance off, and I would give really good odds to anyone betting against Lance right now.

But, just remember, when great riders get too old, their demise in the Tour happens really quickly. One day, Lemond was in contention. A couple days later, he was getting into the team car halfway through the stage. Indurain won the Dauphine and was looking pretty good in the Tour right up to the day that he cracked. Two incredibly hard stages coming up, and anyone can crack on these mountains.

17

I heard him say something like that on an OLN interview I think. I also remember him saying he wished the climbs were steeper. I think he tends to really make people hurt most on the 8+ percent grade stuff.

I just hope losing Beltran doesn’t screw up things too much.

18

Funny. How’d Rasmussen do in the Prologue TT? Funny he doesn’t mention that. 174 out of 189 at 3:14 back after 19 km. He’s totally got a chance of beating Armstrong.

19

yeah, but did you see who the 15 guys are who he beat? :slight_smile:

20

Synchronicity,

Thanks for translating and posting the interview!

I give Rasmusan credit, hell he is going for it, what the heck. It was not the most judicious thing to say publicly Lance is beatable, but heck the guy does not have a lot of experience. I do not know where he will end up finishing in the GC, but I think the guy deserves credit, his goal was to win the KOM title. He finds himself in the hunt for a high GC placing and he is NOT content to let the opputunity go. So for that I give him a lot of credit. In any event, he is the Cinderalla story of the TDF so far. Did anyone have any idea that he would be contending for a GC podium finish this far into it?

PEACE,

RF